


My Best Friend is My Shadow (Retired)

by Amari



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: MBFiMS, Supernatural AU - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-25
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2017-12-16 03:50:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 40,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/857437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amari/pseuds/Amari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elementary School is hard, and even harder when no one seems to like you. After a particularly heartbreaking event, Gavin Free makes a friend in his shadow named Michael. Now the two are inseparable, and are finding out the wonders of the world. However, there are more secrets to the world, and not all of them are good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there, and welcome to "My Best Friend is My Shadow" or MBFiMS, you may or may not have seen this on tumblr. It's rather surprising how short my beginning chapters were to this fic as I post it over here! I feel the need to tell you that my writing DOES get a heck of alot better as you continue to read. A big thanks to Jess for her hard work on betaing this piece.

Gavin Free is in third grade. Gavin was the “odd one out” and never made friends. It’s not that he was weird, he was just “too happy” for the other kids to deal with. His smile seemed too bright for the other children, and he seemed “too friendly.” The children grew afraid of him, never asking him to play with them, and switching to other games whenever he asked to play along. He was smart enough to pick up on their signals, and decided to make the other children happier, he’d leave them be. He then spends his time in the corners, kicking in the pea gravel (not woodchips), swinging alone on the swingset, sitting atop the jungle gym whenever the other kids weren’t using it. It wasn’t a fulfilling time in school, but at least the other kids were happy, and that’s what kept him from hurting from the loneliness. 

No one really knows how shadow beings come into existence because there is no procreation of their kind, but this particular shadow being is well aware of his youth. The other shadow beings welcomed his existence and informed him of who he was now. They sent him on his way to find his own life to attach to continue on with his existence. He was a curious creature, finding humans to be far more interesting than a plant could ever be. He loved how they thought, and talked. He loved their constant hustle and bustle. The diversity in character that plants couldn’t match. He loved humans so much. However, it is not that easy finding a human that hadn’t already had a creature attached to them.  
Needless to say, the little shadow was surprised when he slithered his way in the crevices of the sidewalk near an elementary school, and found a lone child in a dark corner. The child wore the saddest smile on his face as he carefully observed the other children. The little shadow was sure that had he a human heart, it would have crumbled under that sad smile. What caused this child, who seemed so friendly, to be so alone? The child didn’t even have a shadow creature of his own. How very, very, strange. The shadow’s curiosity got the best of him, and he decided from then on, he’d be the child’s shadow. 

Gavin felt a presence behind him, a sudden heaviness that crawled up from the bottom of his toes. He looked around quickly, to see nothing but the brick wall of the building. He shivered, and then looked at his arms as the goosebumps rose. He giggled, he liked the look and feel of goosebumps. He really didn’t think twice about it as the heavy feeling in his feet never actually went away. The boy stood in his corner until recess was over and finished his day of classes. 

When his mother picked him up after school, she asked Gavin how his day was. He looked at her with his big green eyes and actively talked about his day. How Billy threw a paper plane at the teacher and then everyone started making paper planes, how he won a pencil in math bingo, and how he was the reigning champ of redlight/greenlight. Oh how the lies flew from his lips to make his mother happy. She was proud of her little boy, as he continued on about how he and John were pretending to be transformers and blasting away the bad guys. 

“Your friends sound wonderful, Sweetie” she smiled at her son as she pulled into their driveway. Gavin opened his door and hopped out of the car. He stepped up to the entrance of their house to open the door for his mom.

“They really are, Mum.” He boasted as she walked through the door and thanked him.

As they made their way in the house, Gavin set his things on the kitchen table to pull out his homework. “You know Honey,” His mother began as she set the keys on the table, “You can always invite them over, I’d like to meet all your friends.” 

“That’s okay.” He smiled at her, feeling his heart sink in his chest. 

“Well, your birthday is coming up, and we are having a party, how about we make invitations to give to all your friends?”

Gavin couldn’t say no to his mother, what excuse could he make without having to tell her he’d been lying this whole time about having friends? He sat and stared at his spelling homework as he thought about it. His head felt heavy on his shoulders, as he leaned forward to let it hang. His feet were feeling heavy again. 

“O—okay mom… we’ll make them together. I’m sure they’ll be happy to come.”


	2. Chapter 2

Gavin’s new shadow was rather lost by how overpowering everything was. He had never heard of School before, nor did he understand its structure. Who was the large lady in front of this group of children? Why was he bent over looking at a collection of words for so long? It bothered him that he didn't understand initially, but he assured himself that as long as he paid attention, he’d be sure he would figure things out eventually. The only thing he really figured out, was that his new host’s name was Gavin from when “Ms. Mackabee” called out to him to ask him answer a question of hers. Gavin, what a pleasant name.

When in the car, the shadow was again confused when Gavin seemed interested in talking to the creature he called “Mum.”  He was even more lost when the thing he told this “Mum” didn't match up with the events that occurred over the course of the day.  His confusion flickered in the light pouring through the windows.  He noticed how as Gavin told these false stories that he wasn't looking at her, but past her at the trees as the green blurs travelled by.  Curious.  As far as he was aware, humans engaged in nearly direct eye-contact when speaking to one another. He attributed it to Gavin being younger and possibly not trained in social procedure. 

When they arrived at his home and Gavin subjected to his paper on his table, the little shadow took the opportunity to stretch from shadow to shadow to explore his new host’s living quarters. It seemed simple enough, single floor, snow white paint for the walls, varied colored carpeting from room to room, typical bedroom things. Well, to the average person, these items would have been considered typical. To the little shadow, this house was a whole new world. What were these things that stood on four legs and held up other strange objects? And in the middle of two rooms sat large rectangular things that had multiple layers of fabric upon them.  He enjoyed the darkness underneath them, and all the little round shiny objects he found underneath.

The being of darkness decided he had enough exploration for one sitting and retracted his way back to Gavin. It was interesting, how little humans noticed. He knew that his shadow was darker than most cast by sunlight, and he created shapes that he knew no objects should have made. The only people that ever possibly saw them were those that were paranoid, and seeped the fear of everything. He was happy that he had finally found a creature to be bound to. He buzzed joyously, causing Gavin’s shadow to flicker lighter. Gavin’s foot that was suspended from his seat twitched under the movement of his undetected companion. Since he’d never been bound to anything before, he was never aware of the consequences he had upon the host he inhabited.

He wondered… could he make Gavin’s foot twitch again? He tried pulling away carefully, to see if the boy’s foot was also affected by him. It didn't seem to be the case, this time. How strange. Maybe if he reached up, he could touch his foot. A dark subtle substance that appeared like wispy smoke slowly rose from the shadow under Gavin’s foot. It was a curly arm of sorts that held no definite shape as it reached closer. Closer, closer, almost there. There was only a dust speck of space between them before he retracted sharply. 

No. He couldn't  he’s not supposed to interact with the human world like that. It’s one of the laws of the Shadows. How could he forget!?  

Shame on him. He spent the next few moments scolding himself fiercely before resting at the bottom of Gavin’s shadow. Gavin has such pure energy that radiated off his body, and it was wonderful to the little one to absorb such source of food. He was almost in a trance like state and would probably have been purring if that were possible. That trance was broken when Gavin suddenly slammed his book closed and shouted “Mum! I’m finished with my homework!” Homework… is that what he was doing? 


	3. Chapter 3

Gavin hopped from his chair to go to his Mother’s office where she was bent over her computer. “Here Mum!” He chimed as he offered his homework for her to look through.  She smiled at her son as she flipped through the pages. As he waited for her, he was rolling back and forth on his feet, he was eager for her to finish so he could outside. She gave him the approving nod when she finished and Gavin raced out the door, ignoring her call of “Don’t run in the house!”

The little British boy loved being outside when he was home. It was his time to fall into his own imagination. He pulled up his green hoodie, and picked up his favorite stick. He was no longer Gavin, but “Gavino, the great and powerful.” Gavino was a big strong man, meant to protect the weak and innocent from the evil “Barch” the birch tree. Barch would constantly capture the villagers of Freeyard and it was up to Gavino to save them.

Today, it was a stealth mission. He gripped his wooden “sword” tightly in his right hand as he tugged his hood over his face. He needed to blend in; he was an assassin now.  He crept around the corner of his house, eyeing up his target. Barch was there, as he always was, sitting upon his throne in the corner.  His arms raised high in the air, flaunting his current success.

“That jerk, who does he think he is?” Gavino muttered to himself. He couldn’t have anyone hear him speak poorly of Barch, lest he be found out. After his last attempt at freeing the prisoners of Barch, a bounty was put on his head, and now he had to sneak around.  He peeked around the corner, looking for Barch’s weak spot. It was a knot, in the bottom left corner of his body. Just one hit and he’d be down.

Just. One. Hit. “Alright, I’ve got this.” Gavino reassured himself before sliding his front foot forward. Careful, just a little bit more, don’t be seen.  

There!

Gavino rushed from his hiding spot, silent as a ninja. His head low as he prepared for the finishing blow. The sword at his side, like a samurai. Barch still hadn’t seen him so he was wide open.  The blade was about to be buried in the tyrant’s side as he swung forward into a strike!

SNAP! The stick snapped in half. He failed. He never expected Barch to have put armor over his weakspot! How foolish of Gavino the Great and Powerful to have not seen this coming! He stumbled backwards, fear creeping into his green eyes as he faced his target. Barch roared as the wind blew and he swung one of his large arms at Gavino. He barely managed to roll over in time as the arm thundered into the ground next to him. He swallowed hard as he had to quickly come up with his next plan of action. The guards were surrounding him now, so escape was no longer an option. He would have to fight his way out of here.

Now on his feet, he glared at his opponents, he had no other weapon on him, so good old fashioned fists would have to do the trick. He put himself into a ready stance, he could take them, they were just some petty guards. Probably level 1. “You’ll never take me down!” Gavino shouted as he drew his fist back before driving it into the middle of a guard’s face.  The enemy fell to the ground with a thud before disappearing. One down, many more to go.

Gavino turned around just in time to get smashed in the face with a lance. He staggered backwards, feeling his nose busted. Today was not a good day for Gavino. He wiped his nose and lunged forward again. It wasn’t an easy fight and he ended up on his butt more than once, but he was the last man standing. Now it was time for him to face his original target.

He sent Barch a fierce glare before stating, “Barch, it is time for you to end your evil ways, you WILL free the villagers of Freeyard. If you refuse, I will end your existence!”  As usual, Barch felt that he needed not answer the puny human in front of him before swinging at him again. This time, Gavino was prepared and pivoted around and jumped on top of the appendage. He ran along the arm to get to Barch’s ugly white face. Gavino drew his foot back slowly, before kicking the jerk straight in the noggin.

Barch roared as he fell to the ground, defeated.  Gavino was victorious and the villagers were now free.

Gavin slipped out of the tree, and out of his imaginary world. The people would survive without their hero for a little while. He clapped his hands together to get the white powder off of his hands. A job well done.

“Gavin Honey, it’s time for dinner!” His mother called from the back door.

“Kay, coming, Mum!” Gavin cheerfully replied.


	4. Chapter 4

Well, that was an interesting experience” the little shadow thought to himself.  He never would have expected Gavin to try and slay a tree Ent. The weirdest thing was that the tree was a normal tree and not an Ent, so why the violence? It was amusing nevertheless. The kid needs to work on his aim though, for a while he was swinging at the air. It was cute though. The energy the third grader had produced during his little fight was burning warm and the shadow loved it. It was such a rush of imagination, the energy coming off like a waterfall and filling him. He was sure that he was probably running a little red under the intensity of the energy. Why had he spent such a long time before attaching himself to a human before?

His human was now stuffing food down his face. Something called “Stew.” You’d be surprised, but just as shadows can feel things, they can smell things too, and dinner smelled pleasant. The young shadow was able to understand the feeding habits of the humans rather quickly. They averaged about three meals a day. He was grateful that he didn’t have to actually eat anything to survive.

He all of a sudden felt the need to become closer to Gavin. As it stood, he was currently resting on the floor because of the light of the overhead fixture. He slid his way ever so slowly up the legs of the chair and rested in the space right behind Gavin’s rear. He had to fight the urge to continue crawling up into the wrinkles of Gavin’s shirt, but he still had the will keep from touching him.

 _One must not interact with the world of the humans other than to feed from their energy._ He recalled the elder shadow that spoke to him. _Humans understand little of our world, and will not deal well with our existence. They are a fearful race, that would do anything in their power to get rid of creatures such as ourselves._  The large black mass looked at the younger shadow mincingly. _They will not hesitate to destroy you._

The little shadow shivered as he remembered. At times he didn’t really think that humans are capable of harming them. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if anything could hurt him. Yet, with this in mind, he will continue to keep his distance from his host.

…..

A few weeks had passed and during this time he began learning things about Gavin’s world that he hadn’t been aware of before. He learned that Gavin went to an institution called “school.”  School was where he was pretty much forced to be bent over a desk all day to learn things. “Ms. Mackabee” was a teacher, and she guided their education. They had limited breaks called ‘recess’ and the little shadow hated that time the most.

Gavin gave off the worst energy during recess. It was heavy and hard to absorb. It was like his body was cloaked in sadness as he stood in his corners. The young shade didn’t understand why the other children avoided Gavin, and it made him sad as well. His host seemed perfectly fine, and seemed to socialize well, so why did they alienate him so?

He knew that this feeling didn’t go away when he found himself swirling around the legs of the chair Gavin now sat in. Instead of being bent over a desk as the brown haired boy had been during the days at school, he was now over the kitchen table with his mother next to him. He had his green crayon in hand and was scribbling furiously on some construction paper.

The creature couldn’t see what he was writing from his place below the desk, but it must have been something important for Gavin to be making such faces. He had his tongue out and everything! The shadow could also hear the soft crunching of scissors cutting into construction paper next to him. Gavin’s mother had been making shapes of different colors to give to her son.

From what he understood, the duo was making invitations to a celebration of another year of Gavin’s life completed. A “birthday” as they called it. It seemed silly for there to be such a celebration when it didn’t seem so hard for humans to go on living from day to day, year to year. He wondered what kind of vibes his host would give off during this birthday party…. Excited? Happy? Gleeful? It was set for next week, it was exciting! Honestly, he couldn’t wait. 


	5. Chapter 5

Gavin clutched the invitations in his hands nervously. He wasn’t sure how his classmates were going to react to being invited to his birthday party next week. He swallowed hard. This wasn’t going to be easy for the kid. He was going to hand them out before the teacher began with her lessons for the day.

“Don’t worry, they couldn’t hate me so much that they wouldn’t go to my party! I mean, it’s a birthday party, who doesn’t like those?” He reassured himself. The corner of his mouth bent up into a slight smile as his confidence increased.

He stood from his desk slowly, and began to hand the invitations out….

-One Week Later-

Gavin kneeled on the couch cushion looking out the front window. He was waiting for his guests to arrive. He spent forever decoration the house with his mother for the party. He felt the need to go all out because this was his first part that wasn’t just made up of his immediate family, and was for his friends. There was a big yellow cream colored banner with the words “Happy Birthday!” lettered in green hanging above the entrance to the kitchen behind him. On the table was a white plastic tablecloth with balloons patterned on the edges. His mother had dug out some extra chairs from the basement while he laid out green plastic ware and green party cups and plates.

Outside hung a minecraft creeper piñata that the two of them had made together. It was rectangular shaped and made out of thin cardboard hotglued together. The different shades of green tissue paper had been a pain for them to cut out and glue but they managed to get the piñata to look acceptable. It currently swung back and forth in the wind. The third grader was proud of his handy work.

Honestly, he was proud of everything. The nametags on the spots so groups of friend could sit together, the paper chains hanging around the door frames of the house, the balloons taped to each chair, everything was perfect.

Gavin spied the clock, fifteen minutes before his classmates were supposed to arrive. He moved from the couch to the kitchen where his mother was chatting with his Aunt that had arrived earlier that day. She smiled and reached down to ruffle her son’s hair when he hugged her leg suddenly.

“What’s wrong , Sweetie” She asked sweetly when Gavin shoved his face in her hip.

“ ’Dunno” the little boy mumbled, still clinging to her.

It was true, he wasn’t sure why his stomach churned. It was his birthday party for crying out loud! When he had handed out the invites, the children seemed to be honestly pleased. He even asked most of the students if they’d be coming and they had said they would be. He really had no reason to worry, but he was still unsettled.

“Love you, Mommy”  Gavin said as he pulled away.

“Love you too.” She replied, “Everything is going to be fine Honey, don’t worry.”

The dark haired boy nodded solemnly. “I know.”

“Why doesn’t the birthday boy go back to the window to wait for his guests?” The Aunt chimed in. “I’m sure your grandparents will be here soon too.”

Gavin bobbed his head acknowledging her. “Yes Auntie, I’ll go wait.”

…

Gavin knew and understood that his guests wouldn’t have been there exactly at ten, like the invitations said. He knew that they could be a half an hour late. He knew that an hour late is acceptable.

Two and a half hours later, Gavin was now finished with his lunch of hotdogs, potato chips, and carrot sticks. His green cake was in front of him, nine candles lit.

The only people singing “Happy birthday” to him were his mother, aunt, and his grandparents.

The spaces next to him were unoccupied. The plates were empty, and undisturbed.

No one else had bothered to show up.

He was hunched over his birthday cake waiting for them to finish the song. The small candles burned like the bottom of his stomach did.

“Make a wish and blow out the candles Honey!” His mother urged.

He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. “ _I wish today had never happened and I had real friends,”_ he thought before blowing out the candles. He blew them all out in one breath.

Does this mean his wish will get granted?

\--

His family tried, they really did. They tried to make the best of the situation. They offered to play party games with the birthday boy, but he politely declined each time. Instead, he sat in the kitchen trying to follow the grownup’s chatter, but it was beyond his understanding.

He wanted nothing more than to cry. His chest was tight, and his heart was crushed. He felt stupid for even thinking that they were going to come to his party. He had checked his invites repeatedly to see if he had the time and date correctly on them. They did.

He quietly left the table to go to the living room where his new gifts were. They didn’t seem as appealing as they should have. He’d gotten a new racing game, and a few toys that he’d been pestering his mother for, but now… it just wasn’t the same. They weren’t gifts, just a reminder of the happiness that was denied. He lay out on the floor and posed with the toys for a bit.

Eventually time came for his family to leave. Gavin gave them hugs and thank yous as they left. He could see that they were sad just like he was, even though their smiles.

At that point, it was just him and his mother. She didn’t say anything at first, she didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry, Gavin… I tried calling their families… I didn’t get any answers… I don’t know what happened…” She said sadly.

Gavin looked at the floor, he couldn’t look at her. He bit his bottom lip and fiddled with his fingers.  His mother bent down on a knee to hug her son tightly. “I’m sorry” She whispered.

After cleaning up the mess and taking down the banner, Gavin felt truly empty inside. What was supposed to be a happy bright day, a new chance to make friends with the other students became a waste of time and effort. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair at all!

The only thing that was left was the stupid piñata in the back.

“I’m going outside Mum.” Gavin mumbled before heading out.  He walked up to the suspended Creeper and glared at it. Its stupid black face was mocking him. Just like the other students probably were. They were laughing at him, he was sure of it!

_I’ve been nothing but nice to the other students. I’ve respected that they never wanted to play with me anymore. I’ve always been picked last for games, but never complained about it. I didn’t get mad when they groaned about being paired up with me. I don’t smell bad, I don’t look bad, what was so wrong with me!?_

He was starting to see red as his thoughts ran away from him. He picked up the stick they were going to use against the piñata, and held it firmly in his hands.

_I just wanted this ONE chance to have friends. This one chance to have a party, to have fun. How could have EVERY student have hated me so much? What did I do? It wasn’t fair! IT WASN’T FAIR!_

He bashed the piñata with every ounce of strength he had.

_I’ve  never been invited to other kid’s parties before. They never asked ME to come over.  I had LIED to my mother, the only parent I have, about having friends.  What’s wrong with me?_

Gavin had knocked the Creeper off the tree and was just smashing it into the ground at this point. He was screaming out loud and he felt the burn of tears running down his face. Candy was flying everywhere and being smashed into pieces from the stick.

Eventually, the poor boy tired out and sunk to his knees. His hands stung from hitting the ground. He broke out into loud sobs.

“What’s wrong with me?” he cried out loud.


	6. Chapter 6

Seeing his host curled up in a ball and crying outside was the most crushing thing the shadow had thought  he’d ever seen. The waves of sadness that poured off the boy’s body were actually pushing the shadow away. He never expected that emotions could be that powerful, but here in this pure form of sadness, they were stronger than any creature could imagine.

Over the weeks, he’d gotten to know his host as the sweetest boy on the planet. Gavin had a smile that radiated sunshine, a heart more valuable than gold, a brain that’s brighter than the strongest light bulb, and nearly inhumanly kind soul.  The shadow had honestly grown attached to this boy in a way that he never had expected to have. He had been just looking for a host, but now… He wasn’t even sure what’s he’s found, but this boy meant so much more to the little shadow than just a host.

This boy, was now crying on the ground, trying to pick up the fragmented pieces of his heart after being shattered by the betrayal of his classmates. This boy shouldn’t be giving off this energy. He never should be.

…..

Screw it.

Screw the laws of the shadow world. Honestly, if he scared the boy, it didn’t matter, at least he’d be distracted from his current situation.

He just wanted to help Gavin, in any way he can.

Gavin eventually cried himself out, and was now sniffling a bit. He was sitting up now, and wiping at his red nose.  The shadow creeped around from his back side and formed a black pool in front of the boy.

“Gavin.”

 Immediately Gavin’s head shot up. That wasn’t a voice he’d ever heard before. It wasn’t quite right. It was like a heavy whisper carried in the wind. He wasn’t even sure if he had heard anything.

“Gavin …. It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you”

His words were rather useless as Gavin panicked a bit. He started scooting backwards toward the tree.  “W-Who’s there?” Gavin stuttered out defensively.

“Me, someone that wants to be your friend Gavin…” The shadow inched closer to him.

Gavin squinted and looked around, “Where are you?” He looked upward and over to the house. He didn’t see anything. What was going on?

“Right here… near your feet.” The shadow answered as he raised himself from the ground

Gavin spread his legs apart and saw it. His jaw dropped in amazement; it was a little black hill of something, he wasn’t sure what, but it was there. He could see two small white almond shapes on it that he assumed were eyes.

He blinked a few times, not sure what to make of it, or if it were actually there. He leaned forward. “Woah, what… is this?” He reached out with a tiny finger to poke it.

“Hey, what are you doing?” The shadow squeaked as the finger passed right through him. Neither of them actually really felt anything. 

“Ah! You speak!” Gavin was surprised. “Who are you? What are you? Why are you here? Why can you speak?” The questions just fired from the boy’s mouth. The little shadow had to laugh at the young boy’s change in demeanor. The energy radiating from the boy was curious and lighter than before. It clung to the shadow.

“…and lastly, how do you know my name?” Gavin finally finished.

“Well you see—“ The shadow began to speak but was interrupted by Gavin’s mother calling from the back door.  The shadow quickly sunk back into the ground to avoid being seen.

“Gavin, honey, what’s going on out here, are you okay?” She asked when she had seen the remnants of the creeper piñata and candy pieces all around the yard.

Gavin told her that he just had a fit, but felt a lot better. He apologized for the mess, and helped her clean it up. For a bit there he was worried that he lost the little shadow, not a single question had been answered, but he wanted to be his friend…  He couldn’t have been a bad whatever he was.

He helped his mother with the stuff inside the house as well. He looked over at all the food they had left over. “Hey, you don’t have to cook tomorrow at least!” He joked. She laughed alone with him. His mother helped the little boy get ready for bed and kissed him on his forehead as she tucked him in.

“I’m sorry that you didn’t have as good of birthday as we hoped it would have been…” She apologized once again.

He shook his head, “No, it’s okay Mum, you tried your best. I liked the gifts that I got.” And he meant that. After his little outburst, and that… thing that talked to him, he didn’t mind really. There was something out there,  that wanted to be his friend! How cool was that!

He just hoped it would return. 


	7. Chapter 7

After his mother had closed the door his mind wandered to that thing he had seen outside. He hadn’t gotten a chance to see where it had gone. Honestly, it was quite a shock to see that things that he could have only imagined actually existed out there. It came out of his shadow; at least, that’s what he thought he saw. He turned over in his bed and closed his eyes, letting the darkness of sleep creep into his mind.

“Gavin? Are you still awake?”

  Gavin’s eyes shot open and he had to cover his mouth to keep from screaming.  He sat up rapidly, throwing the sheets off his body. That wispy voice, it was that creature again!

“Where are you now?” He whispered loudly.

“Down here, by the side of your bed.” The shadow answered. Gavin leaned over and saw a spot on the carpet on the right side of the bed. Even in the darkness of the room, it obvious that there was something else there.  

“Hi there.” Gavin waved down at him. “Why are you down there?”

“I’ve never been allowed to touch people, so I have to keep my distance here.” The shadow explained. He swirled around back and forth. He had always loved the feeling underneath Gavin’s bed at night. He could stretch freely because of how dark it was.

“Wait, let me try again, that was a dumb question. Who are you? What are you, why are you here?” He struggled to focus on the creature; he couldn’t see his white eyes like he had been able to before.

The shadow chuckled, loving being able to talk to his host now. He’d always loved Gavin’s curiosity, and now it was pointed at him. “I’m what’s known as a Shadow Being.” Gavin nodded as the shadow continued, “We live in the shadows of living things, humans, animals, and plants. We are just supposed to live silently, and feed off your excess energy. You aren’t really supposed to know that we exist.”

Gavin readjusted himself as he continued to stare.  “That’s cool, that’s really cool!” This thing was like a fairytale come to life and was getting the little boy excited. He wiggled a bit in his bed, his green eyes active. “So, you live in my shadow then?”

“Yep! And honestly, I’m so glad I chose you.” The shadow said gleefully.

Gavin’s cheeks burned red.  He wasn’t sure why his words made him feel so happy, but it did. Finally, someone wanted him and was happy with his existence other than his mother. “R-really?” the boy choked out.

“Absolutely.” The shade confirmed.  He enjoyed seeing the boy roll over on his bed trying not to squeal from happiness.

Gavin stopped and looked at the creature again, “Wait, so that’s how you know my name?  How long have you been attached to me?” He asked.    
“Not long, just a few weeks.”

“How long would you have been attached to me?”

“Probably until the end of your natural life, or my own, I’m not sure how long our kind lasts.”

Gavin paused to process this information. “How come you talk to me? Aren’t you like… not supposed to?”

The shadow nodded. “Yes, this is true. I’m not supposed to talk to you, you aren’t supposed to know that I’m here. I’m violating our laws by doing this… but…” He sunk closer to the carpet, “I couldn’t let you be so sad. It hurt just looking at you cry.”  
The shadow paused, unsure if he should continue, but he had already said it once before, so he might as well say it again. “I… I wish to be your friend Gavin, and I won’t ever leave you, I promise.”

Gavin was floored. He wasn’t sure how to respond. A friend. Something he always wanted. And it’d be even more special because he wasn’t normal. Something unique to him; A very special friend indeed.

“I’d love to have a friend. Especially a friend like you.” Gavin said shyly. He was barely peeking over the bed now. “You’ll be with me wherever I go, won’t you?”

“I already was.” The shadow said confidently.

“You know….” Gavin began, “If you are going to be my friend… You need to tell me your name.”

The shadow shook for a second. “I don’t… I don’t have a name.” He didn’t like how Gavin’s face dropped at that statement. “ How about you give me a name, then?”

“Okay! I’ll give you a name, just let me think for a second.” Gavin rolled back on his bed to stare at the dark light fixture above his bed. He racked his brains for names.

Felix? No.

Kate? No. Dan?

No. Gavino! Hah, no!  That’s his name for himself. That’s silly.

This opportunity was like a miracle. A gift from angels above. Then he thought about the stories of the angels his mother sometimes tells him about. He always like the angel Michael. It was a strong and powerful name, for a strong and powerful angel. Michael.

Michael. Yes, that’s a nice name.

He leaned back over and saw that his new friend was still there. “I’ve got it!” He quietly shouted.

“Your name… is Michael.”

Michael liked his new name.


	8. Chapter 8

Gavin’s mother insisted that she take her son to school at the last possible second so he didn’t have to deal with the whispers of the students before class. He tried arguing that he would be absolutely fine, but there was no denying that woman.  She dropped him off with a kiss on his cheek and a “Have a good day, Sweetie.”

She was a master of timing for Gavin stepped into the class with exactly two minutes to spare.  The rest of the class was already seated and ready for lessons to start. It was dead silent, only two students choose to even look at the boy directly before turning away. Everyone else had their heads held low, as if they were filled with extreme guilt.

He swallowed. He had expected the kids to have continued whispering, or have called him out, because his mother had called the parents of the children. He had expected anything but this.

The horrid silence that filled the air made Gavin shiver.

He bit his bottom lip and looked to the floor. Michael had felt it in the air as well, and was waiting for Gavin to look at his shadow.  Michael gave his friend an encouraging wink, telling Gavin he was going to be okay. 

Gavin gave a crooked smile and looked back up. He held his head high; he could do this. Gavin had a friend now that was going to help him through each day; he wasn’t alone now.   He took his seat confidently and the teacher began class shortly after.

It was hard for Gavin to keep from laughing out loud during the teacher’s lectures.  He’d broken his pencil, and the fragment of graphite left on his desk was picked up by Michael who had been in the shadow of the desk. Michael started drawing on the corners of Gavin’s papers. They wrote messages to each other as well.

“M, what are you doing?” Gavin wrote in the margin of his paper.  He wasn’t sure how to spell “Michael” so he went with M to address his friend.

“Can’t talk to you, so I’m writing you notes.” Gavin nodded slightly, showing he understood. Michael had really nice handwriting. It was curvy, just like the shadow was.

“Like my drawings?” Michael asked and Gavin smiled. He looked at the poor scribbles on the corner of his page.  There was an oval shaped creature that had four rectangular legs and a fat oval tail. The head was another poorly made oval with a sideways 3 for a mouth.  How could someone have such perfect handwriting have the shakiest lines ever in a drawing?

“Pretty.” Gavin snickered, causing one of the students to look over at him. Gavin quickly erased the notes the two of them had made and Michael quickly ducked into the shadow cast by Gavin’s arm on the desk.

\--

Later at recess, the two of them played what they wanted to call… “shadow tag.” Even though Michael had already broken the laws by talking to him, he still upheld the other laws, so he couldn’t necessarily touch Gavin.  However, the laws didn’t say anything about Gavin touching him.  Gavin would run around chasing Michael, and would reach down to touch him. If Michael was touched, it was Gavin’s turn to run.  Since Michael couldn’t touch Gavin, he’d just say “Got you!” if he would have tagged Gavin.

Michael was obviously faster and honestly, he was almost moving at a crawl to keep it fair for Gavin. He was having tons of fun regardless.  It was this game that made Michael realize how clumsy the boy was. Whenever Gavin went to tag Michael, he lost his balance and ended up on the ground with his arms covered in pea gravel.  After one particularly bad fall, he scraped his chin on the ground.

Gavin’s face scrunched up, trying not to cry at the pain that surged though his chin. The dirt stung in his chin and he rolled around, flailing his legs while cupping his chin. He couldn’t help as he broke out in loud sobs.  Michael was freaked out by Gavin’s flailing and wanted to help him but he wasn’t sure how. The shadow kept sticking smoky black arms out from the surface to try and calm him, but at the last second he’d retract them. Eventually Michael gave up and grunted in frustration and Gavin kept crying.

It seemed that one of the students, Kerry was his name, still had a trace of a heart and got the teacher’s attention to attend to Gavin’s wound. One band aid and an icepack later, Gavin was sitting in the classroom waiting for the bell to ring to end recess.

Michael waited for the teacher to leave Gavin alone in the classroom. He slithered his way in front of the boy and just looked up at Gavin. He felt like it was his fault that Gavin was hurt, and he didn’t know what to do. He just puddled himself in front of Gavin’s feet.

Gavin looked down at his friend while he held the ice pack under his chin. “What’s wrong, Michael?” He asked quietly, making sure no one nearby heard him.

“I don’t like how I feel.” Michael answered. “It’s uncomfortable, like something deep inside me is feeling heavy.”  He twisted his way around Gavin’s feet ducking under the seat before coming back out again. “I don’t know… are you okay Gavin?”

Gavin smiled brightly, even though moving his chin gave him a minor sting. “Yup! I’m all patched up and good as new!”

“Uhm… okay…” Michael began, “I… believe… I am supposed to apologize to you right now. At least, that’s what I’ve observed humans do when they show signs of feeling the way I do.” He spread out nervously.

Gavin lifted an eyebrow, confused about what the shadow was talking about.

“I was unable to help you when you fell and I believe that friends help each other, correct?” Michael questioned, as he voiced the thoughts that currently plagued him.

“Well, yeah, but there’s not much you could have done, you have your laws that keep you from interacting with humans.” Gavin tried to make his friend feel better. “It’s okay, really.”

Michael hesitated before answering, “Well… if you say it’s okay… then I won’t worry… Thank you.”

The bell rung signaling that recess was over.  The students filed into the classroom and the teacher resumed her lessons.

Toward the end of the day, the teacher made an announcement. “Alright class, so, it’s nearing the end of the year, and we need to decide who is going to take care of Brownie for the summer.” Mrs. Mackabee was referring to the black mouse that was the class pet. Gavin never understood why they called him “Brownie” since he was obviously black but it didn’t really matter. The students looked at one another and muttered. They had all had their turn taking care of mouse for the weekend, and none of them had really liked him.

Of course Gavin never really got his turn to take care of the pet. Whenever he had offered the students ignored him and skipped his turn entirely.

When no one had raised their hand or suggested anyone yet, Gavin slowly started to raise his hand.

“You know, Brownie’s haunted, Mrs. Mackabee” One of the students blurted out.

The teacher put on a confused smile and asked “Whatever do you mean, Destiny?” 

“He’s haunted.” Billy chimed in. “Whenever we’ve had him, we’ve always heard noises and stuff. Sometimes we even see a boy in our houses when we have him. Our food disappears too.”

“Yeah, that boy is the creepiest thing of all. We only see him for like a second and he just disappears.”  
“He’s usually holding the food that goes missing too.”  
“Brownie is haunted; he’s haunted by a ghost!”

The other kids nodded in agreement.

“That’s silly, maybe he just got out of his cage during the night?” The teacher offered as an explanation.

“No,” Said Joe, “Because he’s always in his cage when we wake up in the morning.” 

Gavin was just as confused as the teacher, he had never heard of this before about their pet. Then again, he never really talked to the other students. Honestly, they were probably just making it up so they didn’t have to take care of the mouse during the summer.

Michael had picked up his graphite chunk and scribbled on the corner of Gavin’s page. “Come on! We can take on a little haunted mouse, can’t we?”  Gavin smiled.

Gavin raised his hand, “I’ll take Brownie, Mrs. Mackabee!” 


	9. Chapter 9

Gavin was honestly surprised when the teacher was okay with Gavin taking Brownie the mouse, home for the summer. After the final bell had rung, Mrs. Mackabee called Gavin over to tell him how to take care of the class pet. He needed to get permission from his mother, but he was sure that wouldn’t be too much of a problem. Gavin finished talking to her quickly and was soon on his way.

Before he was out the door, a sand-blonde boy approached him. It was Kerry, who had gotten the teacher when Gavin fell during recess. “H-hi Gavin.” Kerry stuttered nervously.

Gavin was honestly surprised that he was being spoken to, and by Kerry of all people. Kerry had never spoken to anyone before, other than to answer the teacher when called upon.  Gavin quickly glanced down to Michael who just gave him the same look of confusion that Gavin had.

“Oh, hi Kerry!” Gavin said with bright, slightly crooked smile. “Thanks for getting the teacher for me.”

“Uhm…” Kerry started before shuffling a bit. “No problem, so I guess your chin is okay then?”

Gavin rubbed the band aid on his chin, “Yep, I’m all good.”

“That’s good. I’m happy. Uhm… Gavin?”

“Yeah?”

Kerry looked away, finding interest in his feet. “I’m… really…. Really sorry….. I just… it’s just that… I wanted to go, I did but…”

Now Gavin was even more confused.  “You mean… my birthday party?”

Kerry took a step back, “Yeah. I’m super sorry Gavin.”

Gavin was floored that someone apologized to him. He had to focus to spit some words out as a response. “I—It’s… It’s okay Kerry.  Really. It is. There’s always next year.” He smiled at the other boy.

Kerry gave a small smile and apologized once again before telling Gavin he had to leave. The blonde turned with a wave of a small hand and went out the entrance, leaving Gavin behind. The dark haired boy stood there a few moments, letting what just happen sink in. Someone… just apologized to him, and it was Kerry of all people. Kerry, the boy no one actually thinks can talk because he never does.

That… was really strange.

“Gavin, you okay?” He heard from underneath him.

It snapped Gavin out of his funk. “Oh yeah, I’m fine, just confused.” Gavin responded quietly, before walking out of the building to his mother’s car.

His mother was waiting for him patiently and asked him what had taken him so long. He explained that –with her permission, mind you- that he’d be taking care of the class pet for the summer. He was excited because he had never gotten the chance to take care of him during the school year, and that Brownie wouldn’t be that expensive to take care of. His mother laughed at her son’s excitement and reached over to ruffle his hair before telling him that he could have the pet for the summer.

That boy’s squeal of happiness was honestly the most healing thing Michael could have ever heard. Gavin was pretty sure he heard his friend squee from beneath the seat too.

When they got home, Gavin went into homework mode and quickly did his homework. He got the thumbs up from his mother after she had finished checking it off and the boy shot off outside.  He couldn’t talk to Michael in the house, so he was happy he had gotten his work finished. His destination was the sandbox this time. As they had found out yesterday, Michael really enjoyed the sandbox. Sand was fun to push around and make into different shapes.

Gavin decided to finally ask a few questions that had been on his mind while Michael made a pretty intricate sand castle.  “Hey… Michael… there are more shadows like you out there, aren’t there?”

Michael stopped mid-tower to look at him. “Well. Yeah, there are lots of us out there… although, I don’t think they are exactly like me.”

The boy’s eyebrows knitted to together. “What do you mean?”  
“Well, honestly, most of the other Shadows I’ve met… are dormant… sleeping, because being awake takes a lot of energy out of us, and our hosts only provide so much energy a day. Although, I haven’t had a problem being awake with you, and it’s not like you just radiate energy constantly…”

Gavin nodded, not entirely understanding the whole “energy” thing, but he had a basic understanding.  “Okay, so… can you tell me who else has shadows?”

Michael hesitated a second before answering, “Actually… I’m not supposed to tell anyone that. You know I’m not even supposed to be talking to you, so it might end up bad if I tell you who else has one. They might find out that I’ve talked to you, and that might not end up good for us.”

“What do you mean?”

“They might separate us.”

Gavin’s heart stopped for a second. He didn’t want his friend to be taken away from him so soon. He tried shrinking himself, feeling stupid for even asking.  “Do other creatures exist other than shadow beings?”

“Yeah they do!” Michael made another one of his strange high pitched wails.  Gavin always enjoyed those noises he made. The human never understood how he made them, but they were so cute that he usually ended up giggling whenever Michael made one of his noises.  “There are funny little human bugs that you’d call a fairy. They are pretty, but usually nasty and mean. There are shapeshifters too. They tend to be the most fun. They can look like animals, or humans, and usually you can’t tell the difference between them because their shifting is near perfect. The only thing that would give them away would be their personal habits.”

“Habits?”

“Yeah, like… cats don’t exactly act like a cat, or a human would have odd tendencies like chasing after a ball of yarn.” Michael explained matter of factly.

“Shapeshifters sound really cool, can I be a shape shifter?” Gavin asked eagerly.

Michael laughed at his friend, “No silly.” He reached up and and almost booped Gavin on the nose, before remembering that he can’t touch Gavin. Instead, he opted for just pointing at Gavin. “You, are stuck as a human.”

Gavin pouted just a little bit before breaking out laughing. He was happy here, in this small moment with his now best friend. “Of course I’m stuck as a human.”  They continued their conversation before his mother called him in for dinner.

It was a nice end to the day.


	10. Chapter 10

The last few days of school went by in a flash. Gavin played by himself, and of no surprise to Gavin, Kerry never spoke to him again. He ended up being the only child to apologize to Gavin. It was okay; Gavin didn’t mind anymore, not that he ever minded since he had found Michael.

Gavin was in the passenger seat of his mom’s car now, holding on to Brownie the mouse’s cage.  The black mouse was strangely well behaved. He was a few years old, so he was probably used to children. At least, that’s what Gavin figured.  The little animal hardly ever squeaked, and barely moved while being jostled around in the vehicle.  Although Gavin noticed that the mouse twitched his ears quite often. The boy wasn’t sure if mice did that, but it certainly seemed odd.

They eventually made it home, and Gavin had to keep himself from running inside the house with excitement. His mother had gotten him a nice little table for the mouse set up in his room and he wanted to see how Brownie looked in there. He set the cage down on the table and took a few steps back.

It was perfect.

Gavin clapped his hands together and rubbed them excitedly. He was giggling from pure, innocent joy. He just loved finally having the class pet in his house, and it was for the whole summer!  What could be better?

His mother walked in behind him, her arms full of food and other things for the little mouse. Who would have thought that a small animal would have so many different toys? She placed them on the table next to the cage and turned to her son.

“Well, someone seems happy.” She teased.

Gavin beamed a bright smile at her, “I am, I really am Mum.”

“Now, you better not get bored of him, I don’t want to be the one to take care of him all summer, and I don’t think Geoff would appreciate it either.” His mother warned.

Gavin’s eyes widened, “Geoff’s coming back?”

Geoff was a highschooler that would come and babysit Gavin during the summer. Geoff was down to earth, and never really yelled or anything at Gavin. Geoff was the one that made Gavin interested in video games in the first place and was the reason Gavin is in love with Creepers. He never babysat during the school year because he was busy with various things and his side job back home.  During the summer though, Geoff spent most of his time at Gavin’s watching over him. It made Gavin happy to hear that Geoff would be returning this summer. They hadn’t been sure because Geoff had gotten another job, but it turned out that he’d still have time to watch Gavin. Just another bit of good news for the giddy boy.

His mother left the room to go work in her office, leaving Gavin to own devices. Gavin waited on his bed to make sure the coast was clear before Michael came from Gavin’s shadow.

“Okay, you’re good.” Gavin whispered.

Michael formed from the edge of the bed. Honestly, Gavin always found it interesting watching Michael gather together to be visible. It was like thin black smoke that swirled and curled from the edges of a shadow to a center point. It would come together in a circle and then his little white eyes would pop open. It was strange, his almond shaped eyes. They had no pupils in them, yet Gavin could clearly see his expressions or whatever he was looking at.  They, just like the rest of Michael, could change in size, but most of the time they were smaller than a pin prick so he wouldn’t be seen. The weirdest part about Michael’s eyes is that they would glow faintly, so even at night Gavin could see him.

Michael feigned a stretching motion by extending two arm-like snakes of shadow. Gavin snorted. Michael had been imitating human actions recently, stretching and yawning being one of his favorite things to do.  

“Hi Gavin, long time no talk.” Michael greeted.

Gavin smiled, “You goof, it was just a few hours of quietness and you are used to it by now. How did you even manage before when you couldn’t talk to anybody?”

“Well, back then, it didn’t matter, I had no one _to_ talk to.” Michael explained, before shifting his way in front of the table that held the mouse cage.  He had been curious about the mouse, but he never had the chance to actually look at the pet while Gavin was in class.  “Just think, we can be friends with the Mouse too!”

“Yeah, we can! Too bad we can’t do anything with him yet.” Gavin agreed. The brunette kind of wanted to take Brownie out of the cage, but Mrs. Mackabee told him to wait a few days before actually touching him so Brownie could get used to his new environment.  

The two of them spent a few moments watching the pet as he just scrawled around his cage.  Eventually the mouse burrowed into his bedding and fell asleep.

“Welp, I’m bored!” Gavin sighed.

“Outside?”  Michael suggested.

“Of course!” Gavin said and made his way outside, shouting to his mother to let her know where he was going to be.

They spent their time in the back yard until dinnertime, watched tv until bedtime, and Gavin stuffed himself into his bed.  His mother gave him a kiss on the forehead before wishing him a good night and leaving the room.  Gavin was legitimately tired tonight and feel asleep as soon as he uttered a “good night” to Michael.

Michael took this opportunity to study Brownie.  The shadow never had the chance to observe him in class so now was his chance. The mouse being nocturnal, he seemed to be more active than he had been during the day.  Michael shifted from out of the bottom of the bed and climbed up the legs of the table. The little black mouse was now running in his wheel energetically.  Honestly, he was surprised that the mouse wasn’t scared of him. From what the shadow was aware of, most animals avoided him and ran away scared. This mouse though, just trotted like he wasn’t being watched at all.

There was something odd about this mouse. He knew that the children had said he was haunted, but he knew that the mouse didn’t have any sort of spirit or shadow attached to him. Yet, something didn’t seem normal about him. Brownie was too calm around him.   

Gavin shifted over in his sleep and Michael turned his attention toward his sleeping friend. Although the shadow never let on to his friend, he often wished he could be more human-like. He wanted to be able to have some real sense of form for his friend and not just a mysterious pile of ‘stuff’ like he was in general.  

Maybe if he just… focused?

\--

The sunlight filtered through the crack in the curtains, splashing light upon the sleeping boy’s face. Gavin stirred, trying to clamp his eyes tighter than they already were to avoid the light. He groaned and gave up, sitting up and rubbing his eyes before opening them. 

“Mornin’ Michael…” Gavin mumbled tiredly before leaning over the bed, expecting him there. Instead, Gavin saw a dark trail stretching from the bed; he followed it with his eyes until it reached the table and followed upwards.  

Gavin’s eyes widened at the sight. “Woah.”

Michael was… different from before.  Instead of just a stretchy blob that he was normally, there was actually a slightly defined form! He had a cone shaped face, with the tip defining a chin. The wide back end led into a bunch of curly shaped shadows that almost looked like hair that didn’t want to stay still. His white eyes were much larger than normal and were staring intensely at the mouse. The shadow even had a small neck that extended into a slight rectangular shaped chest region. He even had defined arms, they were rather thin at the shoulders and the forearms being huge, but they were still arms. Three fingers were curled around the edge of the table.  Strange black vapors crawled off Michael’s body.

The shadow eventually turned to Gavin who was shaking his head, “Like what you see?” Michael asked, and Gavin was sure that if the shadow had a mouth, he’d be smiling.

Gavin couldn’t believe it. “It’s awesome!” He shouted quietly. It was really awesome, seeing his friend as something other than a strange black bump was honestly amazing.

Michael mimicked a sigh of relief by slowly shrugging his shoulders up and down. “I’m so glad. I was worried I would scare you.”

“No no no, not at all! It’s soooooo cooool!” Gavin cheered and he crawled out of bed. He wanted to show someone, to share with someone the amazingness of his friend, but he knew that he couldn’t. 

Michael let go of the table and sunk downward, leaving only his head floating above the floor. “It’s not easy to stay in that ‘solid’ but I can keep this head fine though.”

Gavin was already stuffing his head into a light blue t-shirt. “Ohh, that’s perfectly cool though. It’s top!”

Michael was unfamiliar with the expression, “Top?”

“Yeah!” Gavin grunted as he shoved his legs through a pair of shorts, “Like the top of a hill! You are above most things and it’s important to be on top!”

“Alright, it’s breakfast time Michael, you gotta go now.” Gavin said sadly.

“Yeah, I know.” Michael said before sinking the rest of the way into the floor and molding into Gavin’s shadow. “Don’t forget to feed Brownie.”

Gavin was about to leave his bedroom before turning on his heels to quickly feed the mouse, dropping food into his bowl.  He then turned around again to head to the kitchen. 


	11. Chapter 11

When Geoff walked in the doorway, Gavin squealed and ran to give him a hug. The little boy smushed his face into Geoff’s hip.

Geoff was tall and lanky individual, with thin, short, dark-brown hair similar to Gavin’s.  From the last time Gavin had seen his babysitter, he had started to grow facial hair, but it was still pretty short. Gavin bet that if he ran his hand over Geoff’s face, it would feel prickly. Geoff also had heavy eyelids that always made him look like he was about to fall asleep at any second. It gave him a warm expression that Gavin loved.

The taller boy laughed as Gavin held on to him. He had the most beautiful laugh that Gavin had ever heard. Geoff bent over to return the boy’s hug.

“I know, I missed you too buddy.” Geoff chuckled while he rubbed the younger one’s back.

Mrs. Free wished Geoff luck and told Gavin to behave as she went out the door to leave for work. Geoff responded  by saying that Gavin always behaved.

Gavin tugged on Geoff’s pant leg, “Hey, Geoff?”  Geoff turned his attention to the boy, “Do you wanna see Brownie?”

The babysitter smiled at Gavin and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Of course. That’s the mouse you get to take care of, right?” 

\--

Michael liked Geoff.  Geoff made Gavin happy, and anyone that made Gavin happy was a good person.  Michael enjoyed the older boy’s laugh, but it didn’t even compare to Gavin’s laughter.  The shadow didn’t mind that his friend was so absorbed in the new guy. He knew that Gavin had a pre-existing relationship with Geoff, so Michael understood that the boy’s attention was going to be focused on Geoff. Michael took the opportunity to relax and enjoy the pleasant waves of energy that his host gave off.

Gavin giggled as he won another round of the racing game that he and Geoff were playing.  He had knocked into Geoff’s side, sending his car off the road just as they were about to cross the finish line. It was about time the little boy won, considering Geoff won the other games.

“You little snot.” Geoff shoved Gavin lightly. The boy flopped over dramatically, giggling wildly.

The fun continued until lunch time, when Geoff made grilled cheese.  The highschooler practically lived on the cheese sandwiches. Gavin never understood what his babysitter did to his grilled cheese, but they always tasted wonderful. He stuffed his face quickly, having his cheeks puff out like a chipmunk.  Geoff stopped mid-bite to look at the boy before busting a gut. Geoff’s laughter caused Gavin to start laughing.

Eventually, Geoff told Gavin to spend some time outside and the boy happily obliged. Afternoons were Geoff’s little break from Gavin. He’d use that time on his laptop to do some of his work. He edited videos for some company and Gavin knew that it required a lot of attention.

Michael and Gavin came up with some new crazy game of theirs that involved “sticks and stones and dragon bones.”  Gavin would set a circle of rocks and sticks and Michael would go and hide under one of them. Gavin would then have two chances to pick up the one he was under. The objects Michael were under were the “dragon bones.” Gavin was supposed to find at least five Dragon Bones in a row. If he didn’t find it, he lost the round and would have to start over again. Michael’s shadow trail was lost in the grass so Gavin couldn’t just follow it to the right object.

It was a hard game; sometimes Michael would cheat and move to a different rock. Oohhh that made Gavin maaad. Not really, but he did yell one time when he caught Michael cheating.

Gavin won about four times.

\--

Geoff let out a sigh as his computer decided to crash again. He threw his chin back, resting his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes. He was honestly sick of it acting up like this. But then again, he deserved it for trying to work on a laptop.

“God, why can’t you just work!” he groaned.

“ _Maybe it’s possessed?”_   A female voice said out of nowhere.

“Ha ha, very funny, Griffon.”  Geoff said as he opened his eyes to look at the blond girl that was now sitting on the other end of the couch. “You wouldn’t let anything possessed near me, and you know it. By the way, nice entry, I didn’t even feel your presence until you spoke.”

The girl smiled, “Well, I am simply one hell of a girlfriend, aren’t I?” She scooted over to lean on Geoff’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I’m bothering you while you are watching the kid, I just got bored of soul watching so I took a break.”

“It’s fine,” Geoff reassured the blonde girl. “I’m sure you’ll just poof out of here soon enough, right? No one is gonna see you.”

Griffon snuggled into his shoulder. “I have to say, I’m impressed with how well you adjusted to having a demon for a girlfriend.”

Geoff reached around and held her shoulder, “Grifffon, we’ve been over this, I knew there was something special about you from the first time we met, and you turning out to be a demon just proved it.”

Griffon got quiet, “Speaking of special…”

Geoff knew exactly what his girlfriend was talking about, lowering his voice as well, “Yeah, I know. Think he’ll be okay?”

“Well, people like us are supposed to report these things, but as long as no one important finds out, they should be fine.” Griffon reassured.

“I’m glad. Right now, it seems that they really need each other, and I’d hate for something to happen so soon.” Geoff said with relief.

Right then Griffon’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled out and checked it. “Crap!” She exclaimed, shoving it back in her pocket. “I need to get back before I get caught. See ya, sweetie!” She stood from the couch and bent over to give her boyfriend a sweet kiss on the cheek.

In a blink, she poofed out of the room, leaving a small sparkling purple cloud behind her that quickly disappeared.

Geoff shook his head, thinking that she was rather silly before getting back to his computer. He was finally making some progress when all of a sudden he heard something clatter in another room. He never heard Gavin come back in, who else was here?

“Griffon?  He called out, thinking it might possibly be her. But when he earned no response, he stood up to seek out what had made the noise. He checked the kitchen where he swore the noise came from, but he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He looked through the rest of the house, and even checked on Brownie. Nothing was disturbed, so Geoff just shrugged and sat back down to work.

\--

Gavin was exhausted by the end of the day. He had too much fun with Geoff and Michael. He collapsed into bed, waiting for his mother to tuck him in.  He drowsily looked over at Brownie, who was nibbling on some of his food. He knew that tomorrow he’d finally be able to maybe let Brownie out of the cage and play with him. It warmed his heart knowing he’d be able to finally touch him.

Michael caught Gavin looking at the mouse, and realized that he never told his friend how he felt about the mouse.

“Hey Gavin?” Michael began as Gavin leaned over the side of his bed. “About Brownie… something… is actually weird about him.”

Gavin raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean, Michael? Like, is he actually haunted?”

“No no no, nothing like that. He just… isn’t your average pet mouse. I’m just not sure what actually make him different.” Michael tried explaining.

Gavin felt his eyelids closing on him and what Michael said didn’t really sink in. “Oh… cool…” was about the only thing he managed to utter before the curtain of sleep took over his consciousness.

\--

Michael was  resting under Gavin’s bed. The shadow wasn’t feeling like watching the mouse tonight because he didn’t think he’d learn anything new about him.  Instead he’d taken interest in some lost change that that he pushed around on the carpet.

He was stacking a pile of coins into a perfect tower when he heard Brownie rattling against the cage. Michael didn’t move, thinking that the mouse was drinking water, but then he heard the quiet squeak of the cage door.

“Did he get out?” Michael thought, while inching toward the edge of the bottom of the bed. He was about to peek his head out when a small human foot came down right in front of him. Michael slid back to hide when the other foot followed.  Michael knew that those weren’t Gavin feet, but Gavin was the only person that was in there.  The shadow watched silently as the feet walked their way out of Gavin’s room. Opening the door silently and slipping out like nothing.

Michael crawled out from underneath the bed, and used the darkness of the room to easily form into his human like shape. His half form was tall enough that he could see the top of the table.  Sure enough, the little black mouse was gone!

The shadow twisted around to get Gavin’s attention.

“Gavin, hey. Hey. Gavin! Gaaaavvvinnnnnn!” He tried speaking as loud as he could without yelling.

Gavin twisted around lazily, making noises before barely opening his eyes. “Whaaat?” He whined. The boy wasn’t happy about being woken up in the middle of the night.

“Brownie’s out of his cage!” That’s all Michael needed to say to get Gavin up and moving.

Gavin quickly slipped out of his bed, and looked at the cage. It was hard to see in the darkness of his room but he didn’t see any mouse in the cage. Brownie really did escape.

“Crud!” Gavin whisper-yelled in a panic. He couldn’t lose the class pet! He already had one class not liking him, he didn’t need another one to hate him too!

“Gavin… I think he might be a Shifter…” Michael said snapping Gavin out of his inner panic.

“What?” Gavin asked incredulously.

“A Shifter, he’s actually half human, I saw feet leave your room. They weren’t your feet either.” Michael explained. “I don't think he actually left the house, we can get him I’m sure. C’mon”

Gavin nodded and headed out of his room, tiptoeing carefully. Michael following closely.  The boy headed through the dark hallway, his fingers brushing against the wall so he had a sense of where he was going.  They made it to the entrance to the dining room when Gavin stopped.  He heard a slight rustling from the darkness in front of him.

He swallowed, looking down to Michael, whose eyes were visible even in the darkness. Michael gave him a nod as a sign to go ahead. Gavin put on his brave face and moved through dining room. He narrowly avoided smashing his feet into the table.

He crossed the dining room without incident and was now peeking over a counter top into the kitchen. Sure enough, illuminated by the little nightlight plugged into the wall was a boy eating apples out of their apple bowl. He boy nibbled quickly, making short work of the fruit, even eating the cores.  

Gavin really couldn’t see what he looked like, because the lighting was so poor, but it looked like he had short dark hair on his head. The boy, from what Gavin could tell, was not wearing any clothing. Really, it was no wonder that Gavin’s classmates thought the boy was a ghost, he looked almost see-through in the poor lighting of the room.

Gavin didn’t want to scare the boy who might actually be Brownie, but he really wanted to talk to him. All of a sudden the boy stopped nibbling and looked in direction Gavin was in. Gavin quickly ducked under the counter to avoid being seen.

“I know you are there, dude.  As a matter of fact, I knew you were coming from the moment you got out of bed.” The boy suddenly said.

Gavin froze, not sure if he should move. He looked over at Michael who looked just as worried as Gavin did. 

The boy yawned, “Just come out already, jeeze. All you third graders act like if you don’t move I’m going to forget you are there. I’m not dumb, you know?”

Well, that decided it for the duo, didn’t it? Gavin sheepishly peeked out from around the corner of the counter.

“Hi, you are Brownie, aren’t you?”  Gavin waved. Michael waved as well.

The boy casually took another bite of an apple, “Yeah? But my name’s actually Ray.” 


	12. Chapter 12

The pair stared in wonderment at the class pet that was no longer a mouse and now actually a young boy.  It was clear at this point that he wasn’t haunted as the class had suspected, but was just a Shifter, and the students just saw his human form in the dark and assumed it was a ghost.  Honestly, Gavin was just excited to finally meet another special being-- not that Michael wasn’t cool enough for him-- but knowing that other things exist and actually seeing them are two different things.

Gavin’s met a Shifter, and he was practically trembling with excitement. He finally crawled out of his space behind the counter to get closer to the other boy. Gavin wasn’t sure how to approach Ray, but as long as he didn’t get too close he figured he’d be fine.

“Ray?” Gavin asked, “That’s a cool name…” He hesitated, unsure of how to speak to him as well.

“Sure is.” Ray said as he continued munching on his apple. “Better than ‘Brownie.’ Ugh. I hate that name so much. I’m not even brown.”

From what Gavin could see in the dar, Ray was a few inches taller than Gavin.  “I know, that always confused me about your name too.” There was a slight pause from the little boy. “Uhm… Ray… is this your first time talking to one of us?”

The Shifter leaned back against the counter. “Yep.  Normally I’d drop whatever I was eating and change back so they didn’t see me for more than a few seconds.” 

“What makes me different?” Gavin asked nervously.

“Well, this guy, for one.” Ray said as he gestured to Michael who was crawling around Ray’s feet, observing the Shifter. “And two, I already had decided to actually speak to the next kid that caught me, so you just got lucky. You probably would have met me last night if HE hadn’t been staring at me the entire night.” Again he gestured to Michael.

He roamed around Ray, honestly curious about what made him different from other humans. He knew Shifters existed, just like he knew many other things about the world, but he had never actually met a Shifter before. It puzzled him that nothing really seemed out of the ordinary about Ray, other than he nibbled his food instead of biting it. After watching Ray for a few minutes, he returned to Gavin’s side and relaxed.

“What are you doing anyway?” Gavin asked another question.

“Eating, obviously.” Ray answered as he finished the core of the apple he had been eating. “I’m constantly hungry, but it’s not exactly as if I can go eat your food whenever I want, you know? Gotta wait until night, when you guys are sleeping. Now look, I’d love to keep chatting with you, but I’m naked, it’s awkward, and it’s way past your bedtime, kid.”

Gavin’s face scrunched with worry and was about to protest when Ray interrupted, “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna leave, where would I go anyway? We can talk more tomorrow or something, okay?”

Gavin dropped his chin a bit and looked up at Ray with his big green eyes, “Promise?”

Ray smiled. “Promise.” He said before shifting back into a mouse.

 Gavin wished he could have seen the other boy condense into a small mouse better; the darkness prevented him from seeing anything at all. He heard the scratching of Ray’s little feet against the hard floor of the dining room heading toward Gavin’s room. By the time Gavin had found his way back to his room, the mouse was already back in his cage. 

Gavin shuffled himself into his bed, already excited for the next day when he’d be able to talk to Ray. He whispered another “Goodnight” to Michael as the little boy drifted to sleep.

\--

Gavin realized that talking to Ray was going to be a lot harder as he had originally thought. Geoff couldn’t know that there was a Shifter in the house, and a boy randomly appearing in Gavin’s bedroom wouldn’t go well for anyone. Gavin had even asked Geoff if he could take Brownie out of his cage, and Geoff gave a firm no. Geoff knew it was too soon to try and touch the mouse. Gavin even got a time out when Geoff caught him trying to sneak his hand into the cage.

That did not make the little brunette happy. He pouted as he sat on the stool in the corner, facing the wall. He used his timeout time to think about other ways to get him out of the cage. He thought about using Michael to guide him out of the cage and maybe slip the mouse into his large pocket in his shorts, but then he remembered that Michael couldn’t touch Gavin which made that idea impossible

There was also the issue of clothes. Ray didn’t have clothes when he shifted into his human form, and the neighbors probably wouldn’t  like to see a naked boy in the Free’s backyard. Gavin figured he could just hide a pile of clothes outside, but he wasn’t sure how to explain to Geoff why he needed extra clothes outside.

Sometimes, thinking was hard.

He groaned in frustration when he didn’t come up with any answers.

“Alright kiddo, timeout’s over.” Geoff said when he felt that Gavin had spent enough time in the corner.  The boy didn’t move, instead he continued sulking in his corner. Geoff wondered if maybe he hadn’t heard him and went up to pat the boy on the shoulder. “Hey buddy, it’s all good now. You can move.”

Gavin was disheartened from his failure of coming up with answers.  “Don’t wanna.” He muttered, staying in place.

Geoff bent on a knee to get on Gavin’s level. “What’s wrong buddy? You okay?”

“I’m fine, Geoff.” Gavin pouted before turning away from the babysitter. He was slightly mad at Geoff as well for preventing him from possibly making a new friend.

“You don’t look or sound it, Gavin. Tell me what’s wrong.” Geoff urged, honestly worried about the boy.

Gavin didn’t answer, knowing he’d probably regret it if he said anything. Geoff sighed slightly at the lack of a response when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He checked it and it was a text message from Griffon.

“Just let him play with the mouse, okay?” The text read. Geoff smiled, she must have been watching him through one of her portals.

“Why?” He sent back.

The phone buzzed seconds later. “Just do it, trust me.”

He put the phone away, with a sigh. Griffon always had liked the little boy and almost thought of him as a son even though the two of them had never officially met. Geoff had to admit that he liked the kid nearly the same way.  

“Alright buddy, tell you what.” Geoff began as Gavin finally looked at him, “Since you seem so adamant about taking that mouse out of his cage, I’ll let you, but if you lose him, I am NOT going to help you find him.”

Gavin’s face lit up at Geoff’s words and he hopped off the stool with a thank you as he squealed his way to his bedroom.


	13. Chapter 13

Geoff was awestruck when Gavin came out of his bedroom and the little black mouse was perched on Gavin’s shoulder. Geoff had been expecting the boy to put the mouse in the ball or let him run on the floor, but no, the mouse was on Gavin’s shoulder.  Sitting there like he owned that shoulder. Geoff never thought he’d see the day that he’d describe a rodent as “cocky” but today was that day. For the mouse to be trained and so comfortable in a new setting so quickly seemed  out of the ordinary… but what did Geoff know about mice anyway?

Not a whole lot, he’d say.

What else Geoff didn’t know, was that Gavin had practically begged “Brownie” to behave for him so they could leave a good enough impression on Geoff and maybe they could go outside so they could talk.  Geoff also didn’t know that Gavin was probably going to have to forfeit every single apple ever brought into the house to Ray. Gavin only knew this because Ray refused to come out of his cage until Gavin made that promise.

Gavin figured that “Brownie” was just going to chill in the middle of the living room carpet, but it ended up not being the case. From how Ray had acted upon being discovered, Gavin thought that maybe Ray was the type of guy that wasn’t interested in playing. As Ray crawled up and down Gavin’s arms as they boy sprawled out in the middle of the floor, Gavin realized he was wrong. Not that he minded; Ray’s tiny feet tickled.

The little brunette tried making a game of rolling over slowly, to see if Ray could keep on the highest spot of the human’s body as he turned.  Ray was much better at it than Gavin anticipated, doing S curves to show that he was clearly faster than Gavin’s rollover speed. All those years on the wheel were paying off! Gavin tried rolling faster, and Ray was still staying on to with ease, until Gavin collided with the couch. The black mouse was sent forward with the jolt and scrambled to catch onto Gavin’s shirt as Ray slid down.  He couldn’t get a good grip and ended rolling on the floor next to Gavin who was whining from hurting himself.

Geoff ended up laughing at the sight of Gavin and Brownie flailing around. Eventually Gavin sat up, and Brownie crawled up Gavin’s body to rest on the top of Gavin’s head. Gavin tried to look up, before realizing he’s not going to actually see Brownie up there and would cause Brownie to lose his balance. So instead, Gavin tried to sit super still with a look of extreme concentration on his face.  This made Geoff laugh even harder.

“Alright, you dork,” Geoff managed to get out between laughs, “I’m definitely going to take a picture of this and I’m going to show your mom when she gets back.” He pulled out his phone and took a quick snapshot of the pair. When he pulled back his phone, he realized it was time for him to work on some of his editing projects.

Geoff informed Gavin, and Gavin’s face fell just a little. “Can I take Brownie outside too?” Gavin begged, “I’ll put him in his ball and won’t let him out of my sight, I promise.”

Geoff was about to tell him no, impervious to Gavin’s pout and puppy dog eyes, when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He didn’t even have to look at it to know that it was probably Griffon telling him to let the boy have his fun.  Knowing better than to argue with his girlfriend, Geoff let Gavin outside with Brownie inside the purple plastic ball.

\--

Geoff had been hard at work when he heard the sliding door to the backyard open. “Gavin, it’s not time yet for you to come in, you know that.” He said not even looking up from his computer.

“It’s okay! I just have to change clothes real quick, okay?” Gavin chimed.

Geoff wondered why he had to change clothes and looked up at Gavin. He had mud caked over the front side of his clothes. The front of Gavin’s shirt sagged with the weight of the mud pulling on the once green fabric. Geoff stared at Gavin in disbelief before getting off the couch to go help Gavin out. He made Gavin strip his clothing so he could rinse them in the sink while the boy went into a change of clothes.

“What did you even do?” Geoff asked while wringing out Gavin’s shirt.

“Well, you see, I wanted to make the sandbox damp so I could build better sand castles, and I left it running after getting it wet. When I realized it was still running in the grass, I went to turn it off and I slipped in the mud!”  Gavin sounded proud of himself for his little “oopsie.”

Geoff sighed as he hung the shirt on the shower curtain rail. “Good job kiddo.”

Gavin furrowed his brow, “Geoff, you should hang them outside, they’ll dry faster.”

“They’ll be fine in here, Gavin”

“Noooooooo, you need to hang them outside!” Gavin whined.

Geoff wasn’t in the mood to argue because he needed to get back to work. He took the shirt and shorts off from the rail and headed outside. Gavin trailed behind him, Brownie in hand, er, rather, in ball. Geoff hung up the wet and still slightly dirty clothes on the clothesline outside.

Gavin gave Geoff a bright thank you and Geoff grumbled a “Yeah yeah” before he walked back into the house. As soon as the door shut and Geoff was out of sight, Gavin ripped the clothes off the line. He sauntered over to some bushes and left both Brownie and the clothes there.  Turning and walking away, Gavin could barely keep from yelling in his excitement. He couldn’t believe that his plan had worked!

Michael laughed as he watched Gavin rub his hands together like an evildoer that finally formulated his nasty plot. “Great job Gavin!” He complimented.

“Thank you.” Gavin hummed as he waited.

After a few minutes of rustling in the bushes, Ray stepped out dressed in Gavin’s dirty clothes. They were too small on the dark-haired boy, showing his bellybutton if he dared to move his arms. The white and green plaid shorts fit decently, because they were too large on Gavin to begin with though. Honestly, Gavin didn’t even care that the clothes didn’t fit Ray, because he’d finally been given the chance to talk to the mysterious Shifter.  Both Michael and Gavin clapped at Ray when he stepped out of the bushes, and Ray struck a pose, earning some ‘ooohs’ from the other two.

Gavin was finally able to notice Ray’s short black hair, and practically blackish-brown eyes. He had bushy dark eyebrows as well. His body wasn’t as slim as Gavin’s but it suited his height.

“Man, it’s literally been YEARS since I’ve last worn clothes.” Ray said, tugging at the damp fabric that clung to his skin.

Gavin looked confused for a second and was about to ask what Ray meant, but then remembered that he’d been in a cage for most of his life and clothes aren’t necessary for a mouse.

“So Ray, how did you end up the class pet anyway? Were you just born in a pet store or something like that?” Gavin asked.

“Jeeze, I just come out to you and you are already pounding me with questions? How about a little ‘how’s it going Ray?’ or ‘Nice to see your handsome face finally, Ray’?” Ray laughed.

Gavin felt a little embarrassed, even though he knew Ray was joking. He knew it wasn’t fair to just start launching off questions to a guy that probably hasn’t had a proper chance to use his limbs properly in who knows how many years.

Ray’s arms cracked as he stretched them. A silent ‘oomf’ escaping his lips as his body argued against the movement.

“Sorry,” Gavin eventually muttered.

Ray worked on stretching his knees, as they cracked as well. “’Sokay, I forgive you. I understand you’re excited, I would be too.”

Ray started hopping on the balls of his feet. “Hey, how about we play a little bit first, and then we can ask questions, yeah?”

Gavin was disappointed because he wanted his answers, but couldn’t say no to playing. “What do you want to play?”

“Got a Frisbee?”

Gavin indeed had a frisbee, and he had the more fun with the plastic disc than he ever had before. Even though Gavin couldn’t throw the Frisbee to save his life, Ray could catch it with spectacular ease. Sometimes Gavin wondered if Ray was breaking his back as he twisted and dove after the disc. Ray also was able to expertly snap his wrist giving him some beautiful returns.

Michael had been feeling left out for quite a while now. He knew that he really couldn’t do or say anything before because they had been inside, but there was no excuse now that they were outside. He voiced this thought, and after some mumbled apologies, the two included him in their game.

The shadow was positioned in the middle of the two, and his task was to catch the disc without moving the main part of his body.  Michael did pretty well, stretching his arms out to catch the Frisbee, but he missed more than half the time. Ray nearly fell over laughing when he launched the disk through the middle of Michael and left a hole.

After some more choice dives from Ray and excellent catches from Michael, the boys found themselves spent and laying on the ground, cloud watching. It was the perfect kind of day with the whitest, puffiest clouds, and plenty of shapes to see in them.

“Hey, Ray, look it’s you!” Gavin shouted as he spotted a cloud that looked somewhat mouse-shaped.

“You dingbat, that’s obviously Michael.” Ray responded.

Michael chimed in, “I can look like every one of those shapes if I wanted, so that’s not fair to say!”

The three of them shared a few laughs before going quiet.

“So.. Ray…. How did you end up as the class pet?” Gavin asked quietly.

Ray let out a soft groan before sitting up to look at Gavin. “Well… you see…  I come from a bigger city, and people like us… people that aren’t normal are far more common. There are humans that know we exist, and they don’t like us. They try to control us.  Three years ago, I was a legitimate street rat. I lived on the streets, stole for food, and kept myself hidden as a mouse for the most part. However… those humans that hate us went through and cleaned up the streets of people like us. I got caught. The next thing I knew I was in a cage.”

Gavin sat up and stared at Ray who was now twisting blades of grass in his fingers.

Ray continued, “I… uh… don’t remember much after that. I’m pretty sure they kept me drugged or something so I couldn’t cause trouble.  I couldn’t see their faces, but they often talked to me, my captors, that is.”

Ray was starting to shake as he remembered. “Man, it was so dark, and the cage was so small, I was hungry whenever I was actually awake. They were telling me I was a monster, and that I deserved my cage.  They… they told me… that if I wanted to live… I’d have to choose either being a human… or a mouse. If I was a mouse, I’d have to be a pet.”

Ray had brought his knees to his chest, as he relived the horrible memory. “I didn’t even know what they meant by being just a human. They had needles Gavin. You don’t even realize how much the needles hurt. I didn’t want any more needles probing my body.  I didn’t think they’d take care of me if I was a human. I’d be in the streets again, and I wouldn’t have my mouse half to rely on.  I chose to be a pet, even if it meant I couldn’t be a boy anymore. As long as I got fed again, and was still a mouse I’d do anything.”

Gavin had moved over to Ray and was hugging him tightly. Ray was still shaking, and tears escaped his eyes. “I was so happy. You don’t even know… when I woke up again after they prodded me with another needle and I was in a classroom. You honestly don’t know Gavin.”


	14. Chapter 14

Gavin didn’t say anything for a while, and just let Ray calm down. Michael perched himself near Ray’s legs and made purring noises in an attempt to comfort the still crying boy. The two didn’t understand the pain that Ray was going through, but they certainly understood the sadness.Gavin reached out and rubbed Ray’s back slightly, just like Gavin’s mother does for him. It was a motion for comfort, yet that hand carried so much more meaning to Ray.

 It represented the first time someone was there for him.   
The first time someone cared.

Ray rubbed his puffy eyes as his tears finally stopped.  There was another moment of silence that passed as Ray looked down at Michael, and then over to Gavin.  Their eyes were focused on the Shifter, silently asking if he was going to be okay.  Ray felt something in his chest, a tight feeling he’d never felt before. Before he could stop himself, his skinny arms reached out and curled themselves around Gavin’s neck in a tight hug. Gavin was surprised by Ray’s sudden hug, but he returned the hug by clutching onto Ray’s back. There was a warmth shared between the two boys as they held each other.

As the boys shared their moment, Michael let out a noise because he was feeling a little left out.  Ray finally backed off from the embrace and smiled at the little shadow.

“Sorry man.” Ray said quietly as he reached out to pet Michael on his head. A slight purr escaped Michael as he closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. There weren’t any laws preventing supernatural creatures from touching one another, so it was okay. 

“So, this makes us friends right?” Gavin eventually asked after a few moments.

Ray cocked an eyebrow at Gavin and scoffed. “What? No. Are you kidding?”

Gavin’s heart sunk in his chest at Ray’s answer. His mind was sent reeling, wondering what he didn’t wrong.  “But—I … I thought…”

Ray put his hands up, “You thought what? That giving me a chance to be in my human form again, basically promising a lifetime of apples, letting me out of a cage to have fun again, and sharing a hug with me was going to make us friends? You’re joking, right?”

Shame filled Gavin’s body. He felt like a fool and looked away from Ray. A low growl escaped from Michael as he pulled away from Ray’s legs and nestled protectively beside Gavin.

Ray reached out and poked the middle of Gavin’s forehead. “You idiot, that makes us more than friends. We are like… best friends, okay? Probably more than that, but I don’t know a word to describe it. My education doesn’t go higher than three years of third grade.”

Now it was Gavin’s turn to cry. His tears were a mix of happiness with confusion, “I thought—I thought you hated me or something! That was so mean Ray!” He choked out between muffled sobs.

Ray chuckled as he patted the other boy’s shoulder. “I’m sorry! I don’t want my new best friend to be mad at me!”

Gavin smirked and shoved Ray over. “Well too late, I’m super mad!” He joked as he stood up.

“Oh don’t make me tickle you into forgiving me!” Ray threatened as he stood up as well.

“Only if you catch me!” And with those words, Gavin took off, giggling like a maniac while Ray chased after him.

\--

Geoff found himself chuckling as he watched the boys chase each other in the back yard. Honestly, when he first peeked out the kitchen window to see who Gavin was talking too, he wasn’t too surprised to see the mouse gone, and a boy in Gavin’s dirty clothes instead. He shook his head while trying to keep back howling laughter as he saw Gavin’s shadow friend trip the new boy.

Geoff had to hand it to Gavin. For an upcoming fourth grader, he was terribly clever, even if he missed a few important details. What would have Gavin done if Geoff had gone out there to see the new boy in Gavin’s dirty clothes? What sort of lie would he have to sputter on spot? Geoff considered going out there right now just to see how flustered the boy would get, but he didn’t want to ruin the moment.

“They are so adorable, aren’t they?” Griffon suddenly said. She rested her hands on the top of Geoff’s head and levitated off the ground.

Geoff let out a honey-filled laugh. “Yeah, I suppose so.  It’s just really nice to see him laugh, and even better to see him with friends.”

“Even if they aren’t normal friends?” Griffon asked.

“Nothing in that kid’s life is normal, why would he have normal friends?” Geoff retorted.

“True.” Griffon hummed. “Well, I’ve got to get back before someone notices I’m gone. See ya dear.” She gave Geoff a quick peck on the cheek before puffing into purple smoke.

Geoff went back to watching the boys play again. It looked like they’d worn themselves out and were now sprawled out in the grass again. Gavin eventually sat up, and looked sad as he mumbled something to the stranger. The other boy just nodded.

The other boy closed his eyes, and slowly began to shrink. His arms and legs pulled themselves into the clothing and eventually even his head disappeared into the shirt. A little lump was left were the boy had been. The lump wriggled around and Brownie came out from the neck of the shirt. Gavin quickly scooped up the mouse and put it in the purple plastic ball. Gavin also quickly hung up the clothes back on the line.

Geoff retreated back to the living room and propped himself on the couch knowing that Gavin would be making his way in shortly. He looked up from his laptop as he heard the scratching of the sliding door, signaling it was being opened. Sure enough, Gavin was peeping his head in shyly as he closed the door behind him.

The babysitter shot Gavin a smile, “Looks like you didn’t lose the class pet. Go you!”

Gavin smiled back, “Well, I kept a good eye on him, so yeah, I didn’t lose him.”

“What did you do out there anyway?”  Geoff asked curiously.

Gavin’s mind flailed as he quickly tried to come up with an answer to Geoff’s innocent question. “Played in the sandbox for the most part and just followed Ra—B-Brownie around. Like a game of ‘follow the leader’ except the leader was Brownie.” Gavin would highfive himself for that later.

Geoff nodded his head slowly, “Riiight.”

Geoff laid off with the questions, not wanting to mess too much with the boy after that. Minecraft was the next order of business between them until his mother came home. Brownie was never put back in his cage, and explored the house in his ball.

Gavin’s mother had brought home with her a box of clothes. She explained that a friend from work had a boy around Gavin’s age, but had grown out of his clothes, so she gave them to her. Gavin excitedly tried on the various tee-shirts and shorts, but he always ended up with the same problem.

They were too big for him. He didn’t necessarily drown in the tee-shirts, but he didn’t care for how baggy they ended up being. Same with the shorts. The shorts fit fine around the waist, but were too long for him, and went far past his knees. He complained to his mother about how they were too large for him, and she just smiled in return.

“You’ll grow into them honey, we don’t need to get rid of them or anything.” She said as she placed the box in the corner of Gavin’s room.

Later that night, Ray creeped out of his cage. He shifted back into his human form and started pawing through the box of clothing. He found underwear, socks, and even two pairs of shoes in the box. He knew the majority of the clothes had been too big for Gavin, so he tried on a set of clothing.

“Gavin, wake up!” Ray quietly hissed at Gavin while nudging his shoulder.

The boy woke up with a moan, gumbled as he sat up. “Whaat?” He whined quietly.

“Look at me!” Ray tried to stay quiet, but his excitement was getting the best of him.

Gavin rubbed an eye as he tried to focus in the in the darkness of the room. “I don’t see anything.”

Ray flipped on the light, and Gavin let out another noise as his eyes were bombarded by light. Michael had slipped out from under the bed to see what was going on.

“Whoah.” Michael and Gavin gasped simultaneously when they saw Ray.

The clothes fit him perfectly. Even the shoes. 


	15. Chapter 15

That night, the three of them decided that they would stick some of the clothes outside and hide them in the bushes for Ray to use. Ray, being the sneaky mouse that he was, was able to get them out there without a hitch. 

Ray loved the clothes, he honestly did. Back when he was a “street rat” he wore old rags that barely ever fit him, and then he couldn’t even wear clothes when he was in mouse form. The way the new fabric brushed against his skin was a reminder that he was probably going to live a better life. At least, a better life while he was with Gavin.

July was just around the corner now, and the few weeks Ray had been having this secret playtime of theirs had him pondering about his current situation. Sure, while he was with Gavin, he was still a pet, but he didn’t feel like just the class pet. Finally, Ray was a person again. A friend, someone who is alive, and not just a creature fighting for survival. Those times he was outside laughing along with Gavin and Michael, was the highlight of every day. 

In the three years he’d been Mrs. Mackabee’s class pet, he’d never felt as alive has he did now. Deep inside, he wanted this feeling to stay.

“Gavin…” Ray started while swirling sand in the sandbox with his finger.

Gavin looked up from the sand castle he and Michael had started to make. “Yeah?”

“I don’t want… to go back.”

“What?” Gavin said exasperated.  Michael gave Ray an inquisitive look.

“I don’t want… to go back…” Ray repeated.

“What.. do you mean?”

“The school. Being a pet. I don’t want to go back to living in that cage, sleeping alone during the nights of the week.” Ray was shaking. “I don’t want that anymore. I don’t like just being a pet! I like being here, with you, Gavin!”

Gavin and Michael stared in shock at Ray’s confession. Gavin’s mind had stopped up, trying to process what the Shifter was trying to say.

Ray’s hands were gripping clumps of sand as he bit his lip to prevent him from screaming. “I… I… want… to stay with you. I don’t like being a pet anymore. I’m not just some mouse. I’m a person too. I’m not a monster, I’m not a mouse, I’m not Brownie.”

Ray was worked up beyond control at this point, and shouted, “I’m Me! Ray!”

“Hello, Ray. Care to tell me what you’re doing here?”

Ray froze while Gavin spun his head around toward the door, and Michael quickly ducked into Gavin’s shadow. Geoff was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. Brown eyebrows raised in an authoritative questioning look.

They’d been caught.

The Shifters legs trembled, and gave out soon enough, knees slamming into the sand. He was terrified, because they’d been caught. There was no missing Geoff’s eyes glancing at the empty mouse ball and back to Ray. Gavin scooted backwards, as if he were trying to hide Ray. Both were staring wide-eyed at the babysitter. Neither of them knowing what to do, or what to say. Geoff shook his head and started walking toward the two boys.

“Well? Who are you and what are you doing here?” Geoff asked again.

Ray’s breath grew heavy as his heart slammed against his chest in panic. He was in trouble. He was going to get thrown in a dog cage again; he was going to get drugged again. He was going to get treated like a monster again. Fear that ran though Ray’s body caused him to lift his arms and clutch onto Gavin’s shoulders.  He couldn’t even look at Geoff, so he buried his face into Gavin’s back.

Gavin glared at Geoff. The boy wasn’t sure how Geoff was going to react to this, and he wasn’t sure how he could make up a believable story. Geoff certainly would never believe the truth, right?

“Th-this is Ray.” Gavin managed to stutter out. “He’s… he’s my friend.”  

“Your friend, hunh? That’s funny, how come you didn’t ask for permission for him to come play with you?” Gavin didn’t remember Geoff seeming so big before. Geoff’s face held a serious expression, but it lacked a sense of anger. It didn’t make Gavin want to back down though.

Gavin swallowed, “I—I uh… I thought you’d say no… I’m sorry Geoff.”

“Ray, I don’t think I’ve seen you before, are you from around here?” Geoff asked the trembling boy behind Gavin.

Ray didn’t look up, nor did he answer.

Gavin tried answering for him, before Geoff cut him off. “I asked Ray. Not you, Gavin.”  Geoff’s words sent icicles down Gavin’s spine. Ray let out a little whine in fear.

Geoff bent down on his knees to get closer to their level. His expression was softer after seeing just how scared Ray was. “Hey, buddy, you okay? It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you or anything. Promise.”

Ray finally let go of Gavin’s shoulders, and Gavin turned around to look at Ray.  Gavin noticed that Ray’s skin had paled and he was as white as a sheet.  Ray glanced up at Gavin, eyes begging Gavin to save him. There wasn’t anything Gavin could do, Geoff was addressing Ray, and it was Ray that needed to say something.

Gavin gave Ray a “You can do it” nod. Ray’s eyes widened as panic settled in further into his body, but he soon gathered himself and swallowed. Ray returned the nod before turning to Geoff, who was waiting for a reply.

“I’m… new… around here…” Ray said shakily.

The older man tilted his head to the side as he seemed to accept the answer. “Alright, how new is new?”

Ray shot a glance to Gavin, who just urged him on with a shoulder. “I—Uh… a few weeks?”

Geoff put his hands together in a temple. “So… You’ve been coming over here for a few weeks and playing with Gavin in secret?”

The two boys nodded.

Geoff continued, “So, why the secrecy? Gavin knows that I wouldn’t have minded him having company over while I’m watching him. Why not just come to the door, or call?”

“I.. I don’t… It that I…” Ray stuttered, at a loss of words. “I don’t know…”

Geoff remained silent for a few moments, before turning his attention to Gavin. “Gavin, where’s Brownie?”  He pointed to the empty plastic ball that was sitting next to the steps.

Gavin’s mind was in overdrive, “Oh no! He escaped!?” He attempted to sound convincing, as he stood to run over to the plastic ball. “Geoff, we have to find him! We can worry about Ray later!”

Gavin looked at Geoff expectantly, even if he knew that the babysitter wasn’t buying it. Geoff instead, let out a huge laugh. Usually, when Geoff laughed, Gavin would laugh too, but this time Gavin was too scared to laugh. Geoff rubbed his face as his laughter died down.

Geoff lifted a finger and pointed at Ray.

“I think I found him.”


	16. Chapter 16

Gavin’s only response to Geoff’s accusation was to laugh. He forced out the laughter from his lungs, and eventually Ray caught on and started laughing as well.  Geoff raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Gavin wiped away a non-existent tear, “Oh Geoff, that’s so silly. People can’t turn into animals.”

“Yeah, what are you saying?” Ray agreed.

Geoff stood up with a sigh. “Come on boys, I’m not stupid, and don’t treat me like I am.”

Both boys stopped laughing immediately. Gavin’s fingers pressed hard into the ball, threatening to break it. He wasn’t even aware that he had the ball in a death grip because he was trying to read Geoff’s expression.  It was still completely serious, but there was an underlying sense of understanding. It was as if Geoff had known this was going to happen.

“We… We aren’t treating you like you are stupid Geoff, honest.” Gavin said.

Geoff sighed again. “You both know that I know. As a matter of fact, I’ve known for a long time. So let’s not do this okay?”

Ray looked up at Geoff in shock. The three of them had been so careful, how had they been caught? “So you know that I’m—“

“That you are a Shifter, yeah?” Geoff interrupted, glancing over at Ray. “Honestly, I have to give Gavin credit for being clever about hiding it, but there were times that I should have addressed it much sooner than now.”

Gavin narrowed his eyes and made a beeline for Ray, stood in front of him, and stretched his arms out in a protective stance in front of Ray. “You aren’t going to take him away, not if I can help it.”

Geoff scratched his head, “How did you jump to that conclusion, kid? I’m not going to do anything to Ray, trust me.”

Gavin didn’t trust Geoff, nor did he back down. “What did you mean by ‘address it’ then?”

Geoff’s head nodded with an ‘o’ that formed on his mouth, “I meant, that you got sloppy at hiding Ray, and by all rights, had I been someone else, they would have caught you probably a week or two ago.”

The way Geoff was acting now didn’t make sense. He had seemed so threatening before, but now as he stood before the two boys, he seemed calm.  His shoulders were relaxed, and his eyes had that softness to them that Gavin had come to love in his babysitter. Coils of confusion bubbled in Gavin’s stomach as he continued to stand his ground. 

It was Ray’s turn to speak up. “Why didn’t you then? Why didn’t you say something?” Ray’s words were dripping with distrust.  If Geoff knew what a Shifter was, what else did he know about the Faerie world? Was he one of those humans that hated creatures like Ray? Did he have something planned?

The babysitter shrugged nonchalantly, “I didn’t see a reason to. As you were screaming before, you aren’t a monster, right? You aren’t going to hurt anyone as far as I’m aware, so yeah, no reason. I only came out now because Ray was shouting, and I couldn’t just ignore it. ”

Gavin’s arms dropped to his sides, and Ray’s mouth fell open a little in shock. Not a monster. Geoff said that Ray wasn’t a monster. Ray and Gavin cast quick glances to one another before looking back up at Geoff.  The electrifying feeling of danger was quickly leaving both of them as they looked at Geoff.

“I’m… not a monster?” Ray eventually questioned. “You don’t… think I’m a monster?” His words were hesitant, not wanting to believe it.

Geoff shook his head, “Nope. Strange, yeah, but not a monster. You don’t have nasty fangs or thirst for blood, right?”

Ray quietly shook his head.

“Then no, you aren’t a monster. I mean, not many people would agree with that thinking though.” Geoff expression grew serious. “That’s why, Gavin, you need to still be careful about these things. You are lucky, that most people that live around here don’t have children. You are also lucky that your backyard is fenced in like it is.”

Geoff took a few steps back and sat down in the grass, patting the ground next to him, inviting the two to sit near him. After a few moments of hesitation, Gavin and Ray sat down in front of Geoff. They weren’t sure what the older man was going to say next, and they were nervous.

“Look, I’m not going to say anything about Ray to anyone, just so you know.” Geoff said, and the boys audibly sighed. “But Gavin, you need to know, that the world becomes a dangerous place when you start involving yourself with supernatural creatures.”

Ray shivered, knowing exactly what Geoff meant, but Gavin was confused. “What do you mean, Geoff?”

The question was innocent enough. Sure, Gavin heard Ray’s story, and understood that humans didn’t always react well, but how much worse could it get? Michael didn’t seem to be causing any major problems, and neither Michael nor Ray had said anything about being dangerous.

Geoff’s face darkened. “When a human involves themselves in the Faerie world, they can easily get stuck in the middle of a war, and neither side will help you. Either humans won’t believe your stories, and the ones that do are more than likely to consider you a traitor to the human race. The Fae in general don’t even like humans, and they’ll punish your attempts of getting involved by ignoring you. The Fae could also brand you a danger to their safety, and could easily get you killed. ”

It felt like several stones in Gavin’s stomach dropped at the same time. Geoff’s words were cold, and sent shivers up Gavin’s spine. So far, between the three boys it had all been fun and games, but to know that it was almost dangerous made Gavin feel uneasy. His fingers wrapped around the blades of grass and pulled as his mind swam around Geoff’s words.

“What… what do we do then?” Gavin asked uneasily.

“You just be careful, and you make sure you limit the people that find out about what you know about the Faerie world, and you make certain no one else learns about Ray.” Geoff answered, dead serious.

Once again, the boys looked at each other to see if they understood. They both nodded before turning back to Geoff. “Alright, I’ll be more careful about it, I promise Geoff.” Gavin said.

“I’ll be more careful too” Ray added. “But Geoff?”

“Yeah buddy?”

Ray hesitated before speaking again. “How do you know this?”

Geoff gave Ray a reassuring smile. “Let’s just say, when you find that someone important in your life isn’t what they seemed to be, you do your research. It also helps too when that someone has stories to tell you about both humans and Fae and their experiences dealing with them. It’s not fun, but it’s important to know. Especially if you want to keep each other safe.”

“That’s pretty cool of you, Geoff.” Ray admitted. He was warming up to the babysitter finally, after realizing that he wasn’t any source of danger for the Shifter.

“Uhm, Geoff!” Gavin called as a thought came to his mind. “Can… I mean… since… you know that Brownie is Ray can… can Ray like… while you are here and Mom isn’t… can Ray stay a human, and you can watch us both?

Ray clapped excitedly as he agreed with Gavin’s question. “Yeah, does this mean I don’t have to be a mouse constantly? I’ve been wearing the clothes that are too big for Gavin to wear, so I won’t be naked or anything!”

With that question, the mood changed instantly. No longer were they all stewing in seriousness, and were back to the lighthearted fun they were used to.

Geoff stroked his chin as he pondered the question, “Well, I dunooooo…”

“Come on please!” The two boys said in unison.

Geoff let out one of his beautiful laughs, “Haha, alright, that’s fine with me. As long as you two don’t get into trouble, I won’t mind it at all.”

The boys screeched in happiness as they tackled their babysitter over. “Man, twice the trouble, and none of the pay, go me!”

\--

Michael didn’t admit it, but he was starting to feel left out. He wished he could join his best friend and Ray while they were playing inside. It seemed like Geoff wouldn’t mind another creature in the house, but every time he tried to bring it up to Gavin, something deep inside him reminded him that he needed to be careful. It was bad enough that two people knew of his existence, any more would begin to make things problematic. After all, Geoff did say that they were supposed to limit who knew what, but it didn’t make the Shadow feel any better.

He tried multiple times to reason that he was fine with just playing outside, like they had done in the past, but it he still felt it was unfair that Ray was no longer limited to outside time.  As Michael watched Geoff, Gavin, and Ray play video games, it got worse. They were all laughing, and shoving each other as Ray was starting to beat them at games he’d only played once. Looks like his quick reflexes he earned from being part mouse were benefitting his game play.

Michael could play too, if he had a controller….

Michael could play too, if he wasn’t just a shadow…

The little shadow didn’t realize he had made a noise until both Ray and Gavin had stopped what they were doing to look down at him. Both of them looked worried at their third friend.

“What’s up guys?” Geoff asked when the two of them stopped.

“Nothing, just a bug in the house, I’ll take care of it.” Gavin said as he got up to grab a tissue to grab at the invisible bug.  “I’ll take it outside, I didn’t squish it.”

Geoff nodded and let Gavin go. The boy slipped outside and pretended to shake out the tissue. “You okay Michael?” he asked quietly.

Michael made another strange noise before answering. “I’m kind of… sad… actually…”

Gavin crouched down to make it seem like he was looking at the bug. “Sad? Why?”

Michael just let his emotions flow, “Cuz I feel left out…. You get to spend so much time with Ray now, and I don’t like it. I don’t want you to forget about me.”

Gavin took a moment to absorb what Michael said. He felt terrible for making his best friend feel bad, and he wasn’t sure how to make it up to him. Then an idea popped into his head. “You want to play video games with us?”

Michael blinked before making a happy noise. “Yes! Of course! But how?”

Gavin entered the living room and sat back down on the floor in between Geoff and Ray. He picked up the controller and continued playing their game.

“Woah, Gavin, did you suddenly get worse?” Ray asked when Gavin’s character died several times in a span of a few minutes.

Gavin smiled, “Possibly.”

“Jeeze, it’s almost as if someone else is playing for you!” Geoff laughed as Gavin’s character died once again.

Ray gave Gavin a questioning look before glancing at his controller. He noticed tiny black arms on the controller that were actually using the buttons on the controller. “Yeah, it really is like someone else is playing for you.” Ray smirked.

“Whoops! I died again!” Gavin shouted with a laugh. Eventually they were all laughing as Gavin’s character spazzed out on the screen.  

And only Ray and Gavin heard the happy squeal from Michael.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fireworks.

With July coming around the corner, the idea of fireworks was instilled in Gavin’s brain. He loved the colorful sky bombs that went off in the sky, and the earth quaking noises that accompanied them.  He also loved how his mother bought snappers this time of year. The mini explosions in a tiny white bag were fun to throw around. Oh man, and sparklers too! Nothing like drawing in the sky, or pretending you can control fire for a few moments in time!

Usually, fireworks were illegal in their neighborhood because of fire hazards and how often people got burns or lost fingers, but people shot them off anyway in their backyards. Gavin really loved seeing the sparks of the small fireworks over the top of the fence. They literally lit up his world for a night.

The first day Gavin heard the solid bang of a fire cracker, he looked around in excitement but was quickly tackled to the ground. The dirt greeted him warmly as his head collided with it, pain tearing though his skull. He felt Ray’s small arms wrapped around him tightly, squeezing him for dear life.

Ray quickly let go of Gavin, positioning himself above the other boy protectively, eyes quickly searching the surroundings.  Gavin let out a moan while rubbing the side of his head. It was throbbing and he didn’t care for it.

“Ray, what’s going on?” Gavin moaned.

“They are shooting at us, be quiet Gavin!” Ray hissed quietly as he continued to look around. Gavin had wondered for a second if Ray was joking, but how wide Ray’s eyes were, made Gavin concerned.  Ray was visibly shaking, and his fingers were curling in the grass, and Gavin could hear Ray’s heavy breathing.

Gavin reached up and placed calming hand on Ray’s face. “Ray, Ray no. no one is shooting at us. It was just a firecracker.” As soon as Gavin mentioned the firecracker, another bang went off in the neighborhood. Ray dropped on top of Gavin, whining almost hysterically.

“Ray, calm down! It’s not guns, or anything, just a firework!” Gavin shouted, unsure of why Ray was reacting this way. The Shifter was clinging desperately to the fabric of Gavin’s shirt.

“No no…. no…” Ray whimpered. Wetness started pooling on Gavin’s shirt, and the boy realized that Ray was crying. “I don’t want to die, I don’t want you to die either. No!”

Michael rose out of the ground a bit in concern for the sobbing shifter. “Ray, really, I don’t think anyone’s shooting at us. Please calm down…”  The shadow had not been sure of what the noise was either, but he knew it wasn’t the sound of a gunshot.

Ray just shook his head and buried his face protectively in Gavin’s chest. Gavin tried pulling the other boy off, to no avail. Gavin was starting to panic as well, because he didn’t know how to deal with this side of Ray. He didn’t understand the thoughts running though his friend’s brain, and it scared him. Ray was reliving a nightmare that Gavin couldn’t even begin to imagine.

“Geoff!” Gavin called out, hoping maybe he’d come out and help. 

Another bang from a firecracker, and Ray squeezed even tighter. The small hands pushing into Gavin’s sides were starting to hurt him and he wanted to get out of Ray’s grasp. He was saved when Geoff came rushing out of the house and pulled the still sobbing Ray off of Gavin.

Ray was shouting in protest, reaching out at Gavin, wanting to protect him from the ‘guns.’  Geoff set Ray down and pulled him into a hug. Big strong arms wrapping around the trembling little boy, rubbing the boys back trying to calm him down.

“Shh…. It’s okay Ray.” Geoff said calmly as he continued to rub Ray’s back. “Nothing is going to hurt you. They aren’t guns, just some people with things that sound like them.” 

Ray melted into the older man’s hug. His sobbing eventually stopped, and he hugged Geoff back as his shaking stopped as well. “There we go, you are safe, okay? It’s all good. You are safe, we are safe, Gavin is safe, I am safe too.” 

Gavin stood up from the ground as he watched Geoff calm Ray down. His head still throbbed, but he was too worried about Ray to care. Looking down at Michael, he could see that the little shadow was terrified for Ray as well.  Gavin looked back up and walked over to Ray, and started rubbing his back as well. It was the only thing he could think of to help soothe whatever terror was crawling in his friend’s head. Geoff glanced a smile over in Gavin’s direction to let him know he was doing a good job.

When Geoff could feel Ray’s heartbeat slow down, he finally released Ray from his embrace. Ray sniffed one last time and rubbed his eyes. They were red and a little puffy from his crying. A smile placed itself on Rays face as he apologized for freaking out. Geoff smiled back and reached out to ruffle the Shifter’s head.

 “It’s alright buddy. It’s okay for you to be scared. We can’t even begin to imagine what you’ve been through. It’s okay that you are scared.”

Another bang rang through the air and Ray stiffened. “Wh-What is it then? If they aren’t guns, what makes the noise?”

“Firecrackers, probably, or bottle rockets. Basically, they are fun little explosions.” Geoff responded knowingly.

Ray just looked at Geoff in confusion, not understanding the concept. Gavin chimed in, “Yeah, the make loud noises, and blow up, like Creepers in Minecraft, but they don’t blow up the ground or anything.  Just a quick ‘boom’ and done!”

Geoff smiled, “How about I show you? Would you be okay with that?”

Gavin gasped in excitement. He didn’t know that Geoff had bought firework stuff already, and so he was now clapping excitedly. Ray looked over to Gavin, who was practically hopping off the ground. If Gavin was so happy to see them, then maybe they couldn’t be bad, could they?  Ray swallowed hard and nodded an okay at Geoff.  Geoff smiled and retreated into the house.

“Oh man, Geoff has fireworks and stuff already!” Gavin squeaked.

“So… fireworks aren’t scary?” Ray asked quietly.

Michael swirled around Ray’s legs, happy now that Ray had calmed down. The shadow too, was curious about fireworks. From his time travelling, he sort of remembered a time of the year that there were many explosions, but didn’t know what it was about.

“Well, if you are scared of loud noises, then yeah, they can be scary, but they don’t hurt you or anything. They are just really loud and really pretty. Firecrackers are just noisy though.” Gavin explained as another bang ran in the air.

Geoff returned quick enough, and Michael dived into Gavin’s shadow. He held a small package of small red cylinders with black wicks on them. A lighter was in his other hand. He walked to the middle of the backyard, and told the other boys to stay back.

“Are you ready Ray? It’s going to be really loud. You may want to cover your ears if need to. Firecrackers are purely for noise.” Geoff said to Ray, who was standing near the side of the house next to Gavin.  Ray nodded and carefully raised one hand to cover his ear while the other hand found its way to Gavin’s shirt sleeve and gripped tightly.

Geoff lit the wick and ran to the other boys as fast as he could. In a matter of seconds the firecracker went off. The red cylinder exploded, the bang bursting through the air. It was loud and Ray yelped in surprise, yanking on Gavin’s shirt.

Ray felt his heart thudding against his chest again, but he didn’t feel the protective panic he had felt before.  It was more exciting, and not as scary. Actually, he wanted to see another one. Gavin was jumping and asking Geoff to light another one already, but Geoff scolded the younger boy, and told him to wait to see how Ray reacts.

“It’s… it’s okay. It wasn’t that scary. Can we light another one maybe?” Ray asked carefully.

Geoff nodded and lit another one. Ray understood that it wasn’t going to hurt him, and he started to really like firecrackers. The noise was a destructive sound, but not life threatening, and it was fun. After a few more firecrackers, Geoff moved on to some Snappers he had bought. Gavin had to fight the urge to chase Ray with the mini bangs in a bag, but he had fun slamming them against the front drive way anyway.

Ray had been hesitant with the little white bags, dropping them too softly for them to ignite at first. It wasn’t until Geoff showed him to throw the bags harder did he start having fun with them.  Michael too was having fun with snappers.  Since Gavin couldn’t throw them at Ray, Michael took on the task of dodging the snappers.

Ray had to admit he was kind of sad when Geoff told them that they had enough of the snappers and they now had to pick up the little tiny bits of paper. Fireworks weren’t dangerous, well, they were, but they weren’t as deadly as he initially thought. They weren’t guns, they weren’t bullets, they were fun.

And that night proved it. When the three boys heard the scratching sound of sparks, the three of them cradled around Gavin’s window to see colors lighting up in the neighbor’s yard.

“See! Aren’t fireworks cool! And those still aren’t really REAL fireworks either. Those are the small ones!” Gavin said excitedly.

Ray and Michael stared in awe the colors that light up the night sky. Even if they couldn’t really see anything, they knew it was going to be exciting.

The next day, before Geoff came over, Gavin asked his mother if she would be taking Gavin to a firework show on the fourth. Gavin’s excited smile crashed to the floor when his mother told him the news. “I’m sorry honey, I actually have to work that night…”

“But but… but mom!” Gavin tried to rise in protest. His mind had already taken him to that night, Ray in his ball, Michael on the ground next to him. They were supposed to have fun.  This can’t be! Gavin felt chills run down his spine as his plans crumbled.

“I’m sorry.” She apologized again while pouring herself a cup of coffee. “If you ask nicely, maybe Geoff will take you?”

Oh, that was a better idea. Gavin’s head kicked into overdrive thinking about how Ray could actually go and not be stuck in his ball, and how they would get clothes there for the boy. They take blankets usually, so they could hide them in there. Yeah, that would work. Gavin’s legs kicked back and forth as his mind raced. Geoff wouldn’t say no!

\--

“Geoff, can you take us to the fireworks on the fourth?” Gavin pleaded during lunch. “Pleeeasseee?” He gripped the table, too impatient for Geoff’s answer.

Geoff stopped mid-bite of his sandwich. “Like… the big ones?”

“Yeah!” Gavin screamed excitedly.

“Wait, are we gonna see big fireworks?” Ray stepped into the conversation.

Geoff paused, as if he were in thought for a moment. “You mean all of us, Ray too?”

Gavin nodded, “Yeah! We could bring him as a mouse, and then he could change over so he didn’t have to stay as a mouse, and we could stuff clothes in a blanket or something!”  His eyes were begging Geoff. There was no way Geoff could say no to Gavin’s puppy eyes.

Geoff let out a sigh, “Well… I suppose so, but you have to listen to me, no running around, okay? Also, why would we need clothes if Ray just goes as himself?”

Both boys cheered happily.

\--

The night of the fourth didn’t arrive quickly enough. Gavin and Ray could barely sleep the night before, and it was showing. Dark bags under their eyes were noticeable as the flailed through most of the day. Michael laughed at them for the most part as they ended up walking into each other most of the day. The little shadow as also really excited to see the fireworks.  The energy of anticipation that Gavin had been giving off the past few days got Michael’s interest more than the idea of the fireworks.

“Are you guys going to even stay awake long enough to make it to tonight?” Michael asked as Gavin started to nod off in the sandbox.

“Hunh?” Gavin murmured, rubbing an eye. “Yeah, Imma… Imma make it. Yeah.”

“Same here.” Ray said sleepily.

Michael was happy he didn’t need sleep.

The boy’s energy perked up after supper though, because it meant the fireworks were that much closer. The sky grew dark as the evening went on, and they were pestering Geoff to go.

Geoff just laughed at their energy, “Not just yet guys, we’d be waiting at the high school for too long if we left now. Tell you what, get some lawn chairs in the back of my truck, and we’ll leave soon okay?”  Both boys squealed and fumbled to get the lawn chairs in the truck, but managed to get it accomplished soon.

The fireworks were shot off at the highschool, because there was a large field near it. It was the safest place they could launch fireworks besides the racetrack, and those ended too late for the boys to handle.  Most people usually crowded in the parking lot of the school to sit and watch the fireworks, but Geoff had a better place. He drove on the side road, next to a farm field, and parked his truck there.

“Woah, Mom never parked here! We’ll be right under them!” Gavin said in wonderment.

Gavin, Ray, and Geoff set up their chairs on the ground. It was almost 9 pm and the sun had pretty much set, but they still had some time yet before they would launch the fireworks. Gavin quickly grew bored waiting, his foot tapped against the ground impatiently. “Geoff, do you have any sparklers?”

“Hmmmmmm…..” Geoff drew out, “Maaayyybbeee?”

“Geooofffff!” Gavin whined.

The babysitter chuckled as he pulled out a rectangular package of sparklers. “I even got the really long ones!”

Ray cocked an eyebrow, “Sparklers?”

“Yeah! Remember those star shaped light things we saw over the fence the other night? Well, these are like sticks that just shoot those off, but they are really hot, okay?” Gavin explained. “Geoff, can you light me one?”

Geoff handed Gavin the long grey stick. It looked like a pencil-thin grey cattail. Ray’s eyes widened in shock when Geoff held a flame to the end of the stick and it ignited. Star shaped sparks danced off the stick rapidly. Gavin squeaked and backed off, and started waving the stick around. The light from it burned a slight after-image in Ray’s eyes, and he could see where Gavin was tracing in the air. It looked like Gavin was dancing, and writing their names in the air. He was caught up in watching Gavin and nearly screamed when Geoff suddenly touched him.

 “Hey, do you want one or not?” Geoff offered.

Ray didn’t even hesitate in saying yes.

The boys with their sparklers lit danced around each other, and pretended they were wizards or something similar, casting spells on each other. Geoff occasionally had to holler at them to make sure they stayed off the road. Michael joined in on the fun by trying to catch the sparks that the sparklers spit out. It was dark enough where Michael couldn’t be seen and he loved it.

They all loved it.

Eventually, they exhausted the package, and they sat down in their chairs again.

**_Boom._ **

A loud noise scattered in the air, causing Ray to nearly jump out of his skin.

Geoff put a reassuring hand on Ray’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, it was just a test shot, they test to see if it’s dark enough. Looks like it is.”

Ray settled back down, wondering what big fireworks were like.

Needless to say he wasn’t disappointed. The first big firework was a bright red star. It lit up everything with a slight red tint to it. Gavin hollered in joy.

The fireworks kept launching into the air, painting the sky with lights of different shapes and color. It was absolutely amazing. Even if Ray had to cover his sensitive ears, he loved them. Especially the ones that were shaped like stars or a planet. Michael loved them too, and he almost wished he could grab one to make Gavin and Ray happy forever. He was making his purring noises as the show continued.

Then there was silence.

“Is it over?” Ray asked, slight disappointment present in his question.

His answer came when the night sky was filled with white. Every single firework went off in rapid succession, every color and shape and size all came off as once. The spirals of sparkles, the multicolored explosions, all of them launched at one time.  The grand finale.

Gavin nearly fell out of his chair from squirming in happiness. Ray’s smile couldn’t have been wider on his face.

When the fireworks stopped, the crowd of people in front of the highschool erupted in cheers and claps. Gavin, Ray, and Michael were no exception, even if Michael couldn’t yell, he was clapping for sure.

\--

As they headed home, Gavin and Ray excitedly recounted what they had just seen, and talked about which fireworks had been their favorite ones.

Ray decided that fireworks were the most awesome thing ever.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Joel Arc begins.

The red Ford Taurus sped down the highway, some am country music station barely fuzzing though the static on the radio. The mid-July sun glared off cars, and the heat tried to fight the air-conditioning while the car traveled down the road. Trees whizzed by, and cars either passed or were passed by the small red vehicle.One tree started to look like every other tree and the stretch of road in front of the car made for an uninteresting landscape.

“You know Joel, I have to say I’m surprised you didn’t put up any protest to us moving this time.” The female driver said to her son that was in the passenger seat.

The boy who had been named “Joel Heyman” at birth gave his mother a groan as his forehead rested against the window.  His reflection showed a bored looking black-haired teen with heavy eyelids. What a looker. His reflection was far more interesting than the passing landscape. One tree, another tree, and then another tree, oh look a car, now a tree, and another tree. It was a sight he’d seen before, it wasn’t like they’ve moved six times in the eleven years he’d been alive.

Oh wait, they had.

He could have easily ‘convinced’ his parents to stay in the small backwater town they had lived in, but the town barely had a thought more difficult than “who’s cat is this?” It was infuriating, really.  It wasn’t like he was leaving anyone important behind either. No one had kept his attention long enough to be worth his friendship. The young man only hoped that the suburb they were moving to would contain some better mental activity.

“Now your father said that they weren’t completely unpacked yet, but your room at least has a bed.” His mother explained.

Joel rolled his eyes and let out a bored sigh. He already knew that. Just like he knew everything his mother was going to say before she said it.  His mother was very careful about thinking before speaking, and it made her a rather repetitive person. “That’s nice, Mom.”

You think that having the ability to read minds, among other things, would make life more exciting. It really didn’t. It made life dull and predictable.

Three hours later, the car finally pulled up to their new house. Nothing special, just a single floor 2 bedroom one bath kind of deal. Already the house was showing signs of how ‘full of promise’ this neighborhood was. Joel’s legs felt like noodles as he stepped out of the car. Numbness taking over  his legs from lack of usage.

“So what do you think?” His mother asked as she stepped out of the car as well.

“It’s fine I suppose. Haven’t seen the inside yet.” Joel answered.

“Hi guys! Glad you finally showed up!” A tall man with similar black spiky hair shouted at them from the front door of the house. He was the father unit that had arrived two days prior to help move larger objects with Joel’s uncle. Joel offered his father an acknowledging nod.

_“I wonder who that is?”_ a small voice pricked at the back of Joel’s head.  It wasn’t a familiar voice like the ones that he’d grown used to popping in his brain. It was a younger voice, full of genuine curiosity. Joel looked around to see where the voice may have originated from.  There didn’t appear to be other people outside, so it may have come from someone watching from a window.

He waited for a moment for another voice to pop into his brain to answer the question of the first. However, it never came, and the first voice pricked again. _“Yeah, Mom did mention that it was a small family moving there. That must be the mom, and that must be the dad, and then… their kid?”_  Very observant.

_“He looks cool. How old do you think he is?”_ There was another pause. Normally there wouldn’t have been a problem for Joel to pick up on entire conversations, yet at this moment, he was only getting half. Like the other was covered in static, a different channel.

Well, this is new. Maybe this this suburb had something interesting in it after all. A smirk found its way onto Joel’s face.

The rest of the day was spent unpacking and organizing. It felt like work was actually done in the house, but if upon looking at it, a neighbor looked in they would think otherwise. Boxes and tape still littered the floors, heaps of clothing sitting on tables, wires snaked around each other coiled in tangled circles. They took a quick dinner break to eat a delightfully nutritious meal of microwavable macaroni cups.

“So I don’t know about any of the other houses around here,” Joel’s father began, mid-chew, “But I know the woman that lives directly across from us has a kid close to Joel’s age. She came by and greeted your uncle and me. You should go say hi or something tomorrow.”

So that was who Joel heard across the street. It was a child curious about the new neighbors. It still didn’t explain the source of the static though. Unless it was an imaginary friend, but even then he should have heard the “pretend” voice as well.

_“I don’t know if I should mention that she seemed to be a single parent.”_  Mr. Heyman’s thoughts echoed in Joel’s head. Two people live in the house across the street. Noted. “ _It’s not really important I suppose.”_

His mother didn’t respond verbally, but her mind went reeling as she chewed her macaroni carefully _.“Hm…. Well… He can’t just show up over there uninvited…. Should he bring something? Can I make something? We are so unorganized.”_

The boy sighed quietly to himself, as he slowly shifted his mind to tune out his parent’s mental chattering. Because he’d been with them for so long, he knew just how to switch their thoughts off from bombarding this brain. However, when he did this, the constant buzzing from other’s thoughts came in more clearly. It was louder and made his thinking muddy. At this particular moment, the neighbors were too far away for the thoughts to be too loud. He could focus well enough, and his thoughts turned toward the static he’d encountered earlier that day.

“Joel? You listening?” Joel’s head snapped up from his empty cup as his mother addressed him.

Joel blinked, “I’m sorry, what?”

His mother sighed. “You and I are going to introduce ourselves to Mrs. Free across the street tomorrow to thank her for greeting your father so kindly yesterday.”

“Right. Okay.”  Joel answered.

\--

Joel couldn’t wait for his parenst to fall asleep. Nighttime was one of Joel’s favorite times, because he couldn’t hear dreams. Thoughts had to be conscious for him to pick up on them, so when most people slept, he finally had silence.

Eventually, his parent’s buzzing became nothing, and he quickly tip-toed out of their house. The cool night air felt nice against his exposed skin. It was quiet outside, and quiet in his head. He loved the night; he loved the silence.  He loved it. It was the best time for him to be outside, and honestly, he didn’t have to worry about being mugged or anything either because he could hear them more than a mile away.  Tonight he had nothing to worry about, the suburb seemed safe enough, the only thing close to a violent thought was some adult that was getting blasted on Black Ops. Joel chuckled to himself at the idiocy of it.

Joel walked up and down the street, making sure he didn’t go too far. The slight breeze was nice, as well. Honestly, it wasn’t that late out, it surprised Joel that there weren’t more people outside. It was perfectly good ‘go for a midnight stroll’ kind of weather. With a shrug, he let the thought go to enjoy more of the silence on his way back to his house.

_“Nnnggh… Ray? What’s up?”_ A sleepy voice crept into the back of Joel’s head. Joel turned around to the white house across from his own. Without all the noise from the earlier rustle and bustle of the day, he was able to pinpoint where the thought came from. Must be the son his father mentioned earlier today.

Static answered the internal question, and Joel’s curiosity got the best of him. He walked closer to the house, thinking that maybe getting closer would help him hear the missing voice. 

_“No… I don’t wanna, can’t you get it yourself?”_ The voice whined. As he got closer, he could feel the presence of the boy, and of something else… wait… two things. There were three things in the room, and none of them were the mother his parents mentioned. Joel felt her presence in another room of the house entirely. A smile formed on the trespasser’s lips. How interesting.

Eventually, Joel put his head up to the wall, trying to listen better. He scrunched his face as he tried to tune into the missing thoughts. “ _Mom’s…. Awake…”_

He heard it finally. His heart practically skipped a beat when he heard the other voice. It was another young sounding boy. Maybe someone was sleeping over? But it didn’t feel human, whatever it was in there.

“ _She’s not gonna let me have an apple this late at night_.” The first voice hissed.

The static hadn’t cleared entirely, but Joel was able to put sentences together. “ _But… hungrrryyyyy.”_ Joel almost let out a chuckle. He didn’t know what’s going on, but it seemed cute.

A third voice finally came in _, “…..I don’t like it when Ray whines this late at night”_ Joel could tell that this wasn’t a spoken thought, and couldn’t tell what it was either. It wasn’t a human sounding voice. It was wispy, screechy, and cloudy sounding. _“Maybe I could sneak something for you, Ray?”_ The third voice offered.

Joel didn’t hear it, but he could feel that “Ray” rather liked that idea.

The young man decided he had enough eavesdropping for now. Something interesting was in this house, and he was going to find out what it was tomorrow when they visited. As he left the yard to go back to his own house, he shook a fist in victory.

It was hard for him to actually fall asleep, his own thoughts keeping him up, instead of someone else’s. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, I'm not happy with this chapter. I can't explain why, but I'm just not.


	19. Chapter 19

_Gavin woke up, the sun peeking through the shutters. Another wonderful morning to a fun summer day. The sleepy boy rolled over to greet Ray, a lazy smile on his face. Then his heart sunk._

_Ray wasn’t there. Not like he was missing from his cage. The cage, the table, the box of clothes in the corner…_

_Gone._

_Gavin threw off the bed sheets in a panic as he jumped out of the bed. Fear prickled his entire body as he searched his room for evidence of his friend._

_“Michael!” Gavin cried out as he threw clothes out his closet, “Michael, where’s Ray?”_

_No response._

_“Michael?” Gavin peeked out of his closet to expecting his best friend to be there._

_He wasn’t._

_“Michael?” A new sense of the word ‘fear’ entered Gavin’s body as he realized he was alone. Michael was gone. Ray was gone. He didn’t know what happened and just sat in a pile of clothes, hyperventilating. Bitter tears left his eyes, as he mourned the loss of his friends._

_“Mmiiiiiiiccahhheelllllll!” He cried out between sobs, “Raaay! Come back to me!”_

Gavin woke up screaming. His mother was already in his room, trying to comfort him. “Gavin, what’s wrong?”

The little boy breathed heavily as he ignored his mother to look over to his right. His heart thundered in his chest until he made eye contact with the little mouse in the cage. Good. Ray was still there. It was just a horrible nightmare. His breathing steadied as he reached out and hugged his mother.

“Just a bad dream, Mom.” He whimpered in to her shoulder. She rubbed his back comfortingly.

\--

Michael hadn’t been sure how to react during the night when all of a sudden Gavin’s energy started going haywire. He’d never felt this happen before to his host, and he didn’t like it. When Gavin started tossing and turning in his bed, Michael began to panic a little. His friend must have been suffering from a ‘nightmare.’ Something Gavin explained nightmares as dreams that go bad. It was hard fighting to urge to touch Gavin, to comfort him, but he didn’t. Instead he worried about his friend from underneath the bed.

When Gavin started letting out whimpers in his sleep, Ray started squeaking, in an attempt to wake Gavin up. It didn’t work, and Michael just stayed under the bed, feeling completely miserable with himself.

He still felt bad, even now as Gavin slowly ate his cereal while sitting on the couch, watching cartoons. Milk dribbled off the side of the boy’s mouth and almost dripped on Michael. The little shadow laughed. He liked Saturdays. They were the day’s Gavin’s Mom had off, so it was just him and Gavin while Ray rested in his cage. Gavin appreciated the time with his friend, and Michael loved the day of extra attention.

Later, toward the early afternoon, Gavin had set up a two player fighting game, for him and Michael to play. Michael loved that his mother couldn’t tell the difference between a computer play, and Michael secretly playing on the controller in front of Gavin. Even after playing for as long as he had, Michael still wasn’t any good at videogames, and often lost to Gavin. He didn’t mind though, as long as he and Gavin could laugh together, he could lose a thousand times and still be happy.

Michael’s on-screen character was getting flipped over on his back when the doorbell chimed through the house. Strange. They never had visitors.  Gavin paused the game and ran over to the front window, while his mother went to answer the door. Michael stretched up and looked over the windowsill as well.

The boy they had seen across the street yesterday, in all his spiky black-haired glory, was now standing on the doorstep with a blonde woman Michael assumed was his mother. He was wearing a grey t-shirt and tan shorts. He was holding a long box that was perched on his hip. The most notable thing about him, though, was that his heavy eyelids gave him an air that he was extraordinarily bored.

Gavin’s mother finally opened the door, and greeted the pair with a warm smile and a welcome. Gavin and Michael backed away from the window, to peek at them from the side.

“Hi there.” The blond woman greeted, mirroring the smile, “My name is Marlene Heyman. My husband Stephen said you stopped by the other night to see if we needed help with moving in, and I just wanted to thank you for being so welcoming.”

Gavin’s mother shook her head, “Oh, it’s no problem at all, my name is Allegra Free. Do you have time to come in? I’d be more than happy to get to know you, and I assume your son?”

“Sure, I’d love to come in, thank you. And this,” Marlene gestured to the tall boy next to her, “Is my son, Joel.”

Joel took that as his cue to speak. His tone was dull, and the words that came out of his mouth were very rehearsed. “Hello. My name is Joel Heyman. I am currently eleven years old. I will be a sixth grader this year.  My favorite animal is puppies. My interests include reading, playing video games, and people watching.”

To Michael, Joel seemed very odd. Like something wasn’t quite right about him. Michael shrunk down to the floor, and flattened himself against the shadow of Gavin’s foot.  Gavin looked down at Michael and gave him an acknowledging nod. 

“Well, hello Joel.” Allegra said sweetly, before stepping back to let the both of them inside, “My son, Gavin is right there in the living room, I think you two should get along fine.”

Gavin swore it was the slowest head turn he’d ever witnessed, as Joel looked in his direction. Joel gave a lazy wave with his free hand, and gave Gavin a half-cocked smile. Well, even though he seemed a little odd, he couldn’t be dangerous, right? Gavin gave a smile back.

“Hi.” Gavin said sheepishly as Joel walked to the middle of the living room. “I’m Gavin, nice to meet you, Joel. I saw you yesterday across the street.”

Joel nodded. As Gavin  got another look at him, the dead zombie look Joel had before was slowly peeling away, giving into a healthier, more engaged person. The heavy eyelids lightened to big excited eyes as he looked Gavin over. “Man, it’s nice to know that there’s a kid kinda close to my age around here. What are you…. 10?”

“Nine… actually.” Gavin said shyly, looking at the floor.

“Oh,” Gavin didn’t miss the slight sound of disappointment, “But that’s okay, you aren’t too young. Do you like games Gavin?”

Gavin looked up, smiling brightly. He heard Joel say he liked games, but he didn’t think he’d bring them up so soon. Gavin gestured to the tv behind him, the game still paused, begging to be played. “Yeah! I love games! Would you like to play this with me?”

Joel pondered for a second, “Well…. Gavin… how do you feel about tabletop games?” He shifted the box from his arm and showed it to Gavin, “You up for a game of Battleship? No electronic stuff, just straight up plastic and pegs.”

Battleship? Sure the in the past two years of school, they’ve had a set, but no one had ever played with him, so he didn’t really know how to play. But the idea of someone playing a board game with him sounds really fun, so Gavin shrugged.

“Sure! But you have to tell me how to play.” Gavin said.

Joel laughed, a little sparkle of joy in his eyes. “That’s no problem them, it’s a fairly simple game.” Joel looked toward the kitchen where the mothers were chatting away over a cup of coffee. “But how about we take it to your room or something so the parents can talk in peace?”

Gavin giggled and pulled Joel toward his room. Any sense of unease he had about Joel long since washed away, in favor of wanting to play with a possible new friend. He watched as Joel looked around the small green room, taking everything in, eyes eventually landing on the cage next to his bed. He set the box on the floor and walked over to the mouse cage.

“That’s Brownie, the class pet, I get to take care of him for the summer.” Gavin explained as Joel stuck his nose right against the cage. The black mouse scurried to the back corner of his cage to get away from the invading face.

“Brownie, hunh?” Joel said with wonderment. “Well, hi Brownie!”

Joel then turned his attention back to Gavin, and sat on the floor to set up the game. After giving Gavin his pieces, he started explaining the game to him.

There are two grids on each side of the set up. One horizontal grid, and one vertical grid. Each square on the grid was labeled 1-10 on the x-axis and A-J on the y-axis. The Horizontal grid was where your ships are, and the vertical grid served as a missile map for finding the opponent’s battleships. There were five ships total, each with varying sizes. One ship had two holes, two had three holes, one with four holes, and one with five holes. One hole per square on the grid.

Each person had red and white pegs as well. When you called out a space you planned on ‘launching’ a missile at, you’d place a white or red peg depending on whether or not  it’s a hit or a miss. You also place red pegs into your own ship if they’ve been hit. If all the holes in your ship are filled, it’s considered sunk.

The objective of the game is to sink your opponent’s ships before they sink yours.

“Do you understand how to play?” Joel asked after explaining.

Gavin nodded. It sounded like he was going to have lots of fun. He liked these kind of strategic games. A battle of the minds, so to speak.

“You ready?” Joel asked as soon as Gavin organized his own ships.

“Bring it!” Gavin said.


	20. Chapter 20

_Well. That’s strange._ Gavin thought to himself as he lost another round of battleship.

Gavin really had no experience in the game, but he was fairly sure that rounds were supposed to last more than ten minutes at a time. Nothing in his room was reflective enough for Joel to be cheating, so how was he able to crush Gavin so easily? There ‘d be one or two misses, but as soon as Joel landed a “hit,” Gavin’s ships would be down in the next few turns. Sure, Gavin was able to do the same, but he’d still missed once or twice before actually getting the second hit on a ship. It didn’t help that Joel lined his ships together, confusing Gavin when he didn’t actually sink a ship, and it was just one line of damage to multiple ships.

Gavin decided to try Joel’s tactic this next round. He placed the two-hole small ship next to the two three-hole ships. A light chuckle escaped his lips as he grew excited thinking about he had Joel. The other wouldn’t see it coming. He couldn’t. At least, he hoped Joel wouldn’t.

“Ready to lose again?” Joel asked with a teasing smirk.

Gavin sat back and crossed his arms in a confident manner, “You wish. I’ve got you this time!”

“Oh really?” Joel raised a challenging eyebrow, “Well, you go first, my friend.”

Both of them missed the first few turns, and then Gavin landed the first hit. He wooped in victory, for it was the first time he managed to land a hit first.

“Don’t get cocky, kid.” Joel warned.

“Quit calling me kid, you are only two years older than me.” Gavin pouted.

Joel laughed, “Technically, three, I turn 12 in September. Anyway,  E-10.”

Gavin looked down on his board. His feeling of victory washed away just as fast as it had arrived.

“Hit.” He said reluctantly. It took him all his will power not to reach over and punch the smirk off Joel’s face.

From that single hit, Gavin’s game was over, he knew it. He desperately tried to get the rest of Joel’s boats, but he failed, missing his next call.

“D-10”

“Hit.” Gavin said. He nibbled on his bottom lip. “C-4?”

Joel attached a hum to his response, “Miss. C-10.”

Gavin hissed, “Hit.” He was getting tired of losing, and he knew he was going to lose again, regardless of strategy. Joel had hit each one of the ships, and Gavin was sure he somehow knew they were different ships, because his next three turns were the same letters, just going down row 9, taking out the smallest ship.

“You tried my own strategy against me? Nice try.” Joel laughed.

_Come on kid, I know you aren’t dumb. You know something’s up, don’t you? Put the clues together._ Joel thought as he heard Gavin’s inner thoughts, trying to figure out what was happening.  He had figured Gavin would have been more suspicious as he had been, considering how Joel heard the younger boy’s mind run at 100 miles per hour earlier.

Joel was getting bored, his little game of “how long until Gavin finds out I’m a mind reader” had stretched farther than he intended.

If anything, his next game would finalize it, or just make Gavin think he’s seriously cheating.

Gavin was beyond frustrated, and didn’t answer to Joel’s teasing. Shoulders hung low as he dreaded the incoming loss. He really didn’t understand how Joel was able to keep winning as he did.

And then Brownie started squeaking. Both Gavin and Joel looked away from their game to look up at the pet mouse in his cage.  The little black mouse was near the entrance of the cage, looking strangely impatient. Gavin smiled at the pet, and stood to go let Brownie out of his cage. Brownie jumped into Gavin’s cupped hands and ran up the boy’s arm to settle himself on Gavin’s shoulder.

Joel was pleasantly impressed to see a mouse react the way it had. He was no expert on rodents, but that seemed slightly unnatural for an animal.

Static filled the back of Joel’s head again. Honestly, throughout his game, he’d been hearing the static, quite loudly as well, but he couldn’t actually pick up any noises. It was loud and fuzzy, grating the back of his head, but he was able to ignore it easily enough.  He also heard that silky voice again; it was whispered worried thoughts, and constantly wondering about Joel. It couldn’t decide if Joel was a threat, or no one to worry about. Joel actually thought the little worried voice was cute, but it would be nice to know where the heck it was coming from.

The static fuzzed again, as Gavin sat back down on his side of the board. “ _Got yo--… ack--- …. Vin.”_   Then Brownie slid down Gavin’s body, and landed on the board.

Gavin stared in confusion as Ray picked up the little plastic white pegs and started placing them on the horizontal board.  He had then scattered around, but when he lined up four of them in a row, Gavin understood what he was doing. From his cage, Brownie had a vantage point of Joel’s board, and was now telling Gavin where Joel’s ships were located.  

_“Ohhh, Ray’s trying to help me._ ” Gavin clearly thought.

Gavin’s stomach sunk when the idea that this would be cheating ran though his head. Not that cheating at a simple game like this would spell the end of a potential friendship. Besides, as far as Joel thinks, Brownie is just a regular pet mouse, and is sitting on Gavin’s playing board. Gavin flashed an upward glance at his opponent, who currently had his tongue jammed in his cheek, waiting for Gavin to call his next move.

Joel found it hard not to react to Gavin’s thought process about the ‘class pet,’ and jamming his tongue was the only way to keep himself from saying something about it. He had never met a shifter before, and that really explained the static.

Now the only thing that Joel didn’t know about was where the third voice was coming from. Gavin hadn’t any stray thoughts about it, so it was possible that either Gavin was entirely focused on the game and Brownie, or Ray, as Gavin had revealed earlier, or he didn’t know about the third person.

Either way, Joel was in for some more fun, because if Gavin was clearly cheating, he could finally show off that he had an upper hand as well. He really just hoped Gavin would catch on soon enough.

Were it not for Gavin’s miss earlier on in the game, he might have won. Ray’s pegs were all correct, and Gavin was practically screaming internally from getting so many ‘hits in a row.’

 He let out a large sigh as he replaced the pieces on his board, and placed Brownie on the table next to his cage. “I’m going to say that this will be our last game, we’ve been playing long enough, don’t you?” Gavin asked.

Joel nodded, “Sure, I’ll kick your butt one more time. As usual, you first.”

Brownie started squeaking, and Gavin reached out for him, to let him down. Just like before, he scrambled onto Gavin’s playing board, and set up pegs indicating where Joel’s ships were.”

Joel raised an eyebrow, “What was the point of putting him up there, if you were just going to let him down again?”

Gavin shrugged, “I don’t know, honest. Just sorta felt like it.”

That was a blatant lie.

A smile tugged on the corners of Joel’s mouth. Where he not a mind reader, he probably would have just accepted the answer. Everyone does things that they aren’t sure why they did it, and this could very well have been a case of that, but Joel knew better.

“Alright, well, still, go already.” Joel barked impatiently.

Being pushed into his first move made Gavin feel a little uneasy. Joel had been patient about Gavin taking a while to call out his first move, so why the sudden change in demeanor? Was he really just getting bored?

“O-okay.” Gavin said, looking down his board. He pushed a white peg into the vertical board, “A-1.”

Joel let out a laugh, the mouse hadn’t been on the table for more than a minute, and had managed to memorize Joel’s board. He was impressed. “Wow, good job! Hit. Now…. let me do the same. C-4.”

“Hit…” Gavin muttered. Joel’s compliment didn’t feel sincere. It held a mocking note that Gavin nearly missed, and it really set Gavin off. Did he know that Gavin was technically cheating somehow? Was he actually mad about it? How was he going to explain this?

How was Joel so good at this anyway? The way he was able to just get one hit and win the game seemed suspicious. He already had entertained the fact that Joel was cheating but, Gavin had no evidence to make the claim.

Something wasn’t right here.

Gavin squinted before calling out his next move, “A-2.”

“Once again, the boy genius gets a hit.” Joel said. He shifted his legs so that they were no longer underneath him, and now bent in front of him. He laid his chin on the front of his knees, with his fingers interlaced in front of his nose. Hearing Gavin’s thoughts unravel, he figured he’d push the boy farther by looking as menacing as possible.

He was going to have to give himself an award later for best acting. “F-8” Joel said as he grabbed a red peg and shoved it into the spot before Gavin answered.

Another change. “Hit.” Gavin squeaked. Instead of destroying the first ship, like he had been doing, Joel went for another ship.

Brownie had nestled himself in Gavin’s lap, waiting for the game to end. Even though he had been sure that his friend would win this one, since he got the first move, he was beginning to wonder if Gavin would have the nerve to finish the game. It seemed he was getting spooked by the older boy in the room. Fur prickled on his skin as he tried to fight an urge to get protective over his friend. Not that Ray could do much, maybe go over and bite Joel, and that really wouldn’t prove much.

“A-3?” Gavin called out his next move with hesitant insecurity hanging on his words.

“Boom!” Joel practically yelled out, “You sunk my battleship.”

The sarcastic excitement just added to the whole creep factor Joel was working on. He saw Gavin shrivel up inside himself as his mind raced around what was going on in front of him. “Alright, let’s see, what will D-1 earn me?” He was running this game now. Counting down the minutes until Gavin finally came to the conclusion that Joel wasn’t normal. 

“Uhm… another hit.” The younger boy admitted. Another ship, marked. It was as if Joel knew where each ship was, and had known from the beginning. Joel was just toying with him, and it scared him. A jolt ran through Gavin’s body as he shivered, goose bumps quickly exposing themselves on his arms.

“Joel… what are you doing?” Gavin heard himself ask. His thoughts had been running so wild in his head that he forgot to control them.

Joel let his head fall back as he laughed, “What do you think I’m doing? I’m playing battleship with you.”

No. There was more to it. It wasn’t just a simple game. Joel was trying to freak him out he had been succeeding.

 He shifted in his spot, making Brownie jump off his legs. “No… Joel… you aren’t just playing battleship, are you? You are playing mind games too, aren’t you?”

Joel rapped his fingers against his knees, giving Gavin a look that urged him to go on.

And then it clicked in Gavin’s head. “You already know where my ships are, don’t you?”

Joel shrugged, “Well I think it’s fair to say, that at least this game, you already know where mine are.”

Gavin went wide-eyed. The runaway freight train that had been Gavin’s brain had crashed into a deadly halt. He had known. Joel had known every ship, every time, and was just playing with Gavin…  He was just waiting for Gavin to figure something was up. A cold chill ran down his spine. 

A side thought crept through his mind.  He was going to probably get used to people playing mind games, because this is the second time this summer that this has happened.

But the question is—

“How did I know?” Joel interrupted Gavin’s thoughts. Joel peeked out from his knees and tapped his temple.  “I’m a mind reader, Gavin.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sincerely apologize for how long it took for me to get this chapter out. I ran into some personal things, and it delayed progress for quite awhile.

Gavin felt his jaw go slack. If he was a mind reader, then he probably heard Ray and Michael too.

“Michael?” Joel asked verbally, before shaking his head. “Never mind, we can get back to that. Yeah, I’m a mind reader, but actually, I’m much more than that.”

Gavin’s face scrunched in confusion. He was still trying to wrap his head around the whole ‘mind reader’ aspect, even if it did make sense. He should be used to running into unusual things at this point. First a Shadow creature, then a Shifter class pet, and now a mind reading neighbor.

 “More?” Gavin asked in barely a whisper.

Joel kept up his smile and gave a nonchalant stretch, lifting his arms over his head, before dropping them back at his sides. Slowly he stood from his spot on the floor, and jumped up to sit on Gavin’s bed. He leaned forward, propped his elbows on his knees, and curled his fingers together under his nose. To Gavin, it looked like he was putting up his creepy façade again, but no, Joel was just putting on his serious face. He was opening up to someone about his powers for the very first time, and he wasn’t going to make it a joke anymore.

“Yeah, I’m more.” Joel answered as he locked his gaze with Gavin’s. “I can move things with my mind, I can imprint thoughts into others, and I can even erase memories, and replace them with other ideas. Although, I’ve never really done that, but I am aware I am capable of it.”

Joel didn’t know why he was spilling this information out to this boy he’d just met, but he knew he wasn’t going to regret it. Gavin was a boy that was surrounded by strange things, and Joel, for once in his life, felt like he belonged. There was someone that could somehow relate to him, someone that wasn’t normal. Different.

If anything, Joel’s little test wasn’t just to cure his boredom, but rather to see how Gavin would deal with someone that was different. To see if he would succumb to the normal human fear of those that were different. He wanted to see how accepting Gavin was. Granted, knowing that Gavin had been living with a shifter, happily even, helped Joel believe in Gavin.

Gavin tilted his head, finding this new information interesting, “Oh, really? Can you show me?”

It was Joel’s turn to be confused, “Show you what?”

“You know,” Gavin started, waving his hand in a circle in the air, “Show me how you can move things. That sounds really cool!”

Joel felt the happy anticipation leaking from Gavin’s head. It was sincere interest, and a complete lack of fear that emanated from the boy’s body. Relief washed over Joel. Even though he was a mind reader, and most of the time could predict how people would react, there’s always that little chance that their mind would shift in an unpredictable way.

Joel relaxed, smiling again as he leaned back. “Sure, just give me a second, it’s not the easiest thing.”

Gavin chuckled, “I’m sure it’s not.”

Joel closed his eyes and lifted his chin slightly. He needed to focus. The cluttered thoughts of people and himself were pushed to the corners of his mind and his head became empty.   A smoky, wispy version of Gavin’s bedroom appeared in the back Joel’s. He focused on the garboard on the floor in front of him. He scrunched his face as he sharpened the image of the board. A white ribbon crept out from the corner of his mental vision. It weaved it’s way around, side-winding like a snake as it reached for a grey battleship. The edges curled around the plastic piece, and slowly lifted.

“Woah.” Gavin emitted in wonder. The little plastic ship had suddenly rose from the game board and was now floating in front of Gavin.  It sat in the air, like an invisible ghost had its hands wrapped around the piece.  

Joel only opened his eyes when he felt he had a secure grip on the plastic piece. Gavin had taken to walking around the floating ship, eyes wide in amazement.  Gavin lifted his hand slowly, a curious finger poked at the floating ship. It moved under his finger, but not very far.

“Joel, this is super awesome.” Gavin said excitedly. All the anguish he had felt because of Joel’s little game had left, lost in the wonder of something new.

Joel smiled sincerely. “Why thank you.”

And from his moment of happiness, he pulled his serious mask on once again. “So, Gavin… since you know my secret, I’ll keep yours if you let me in on them.”

Gavin froze. Oh yeah, that’s right. He did mention Michael’s name, and he probably heard his thoughts about Ray too. Icy chills prickled on Gavin’s skin. He had no way of knowing if Joel’s threat was an actual threat or empty words.

Gavin sighed.

Looks like he was going to break Geoff rule. Better he break it, than Joel break it for him.

“Alright, sounds fair.” Gavin said. A fierceness blazed behind his eyes, ready to share his own secret.

He bent over to offer his hands to Ray, who jumped into his hands, before standing up. “This is Ray, not Brownie. Well, actually, his name is Brownie, but he doesn’t like that name, and calls himself Ray. He was Ray first. He’s still the class pet, but he’s more than just a mouse. He’s my friend… and he’s a Shifter.”

Joel raised an eyebrow.  “A Shifter? Really? Well, that explains why I couldn’t really hear him then.”

“What?” Gavin asked as Ray crawled up Gavin’s arm to sit on his shoulder.

“Yeah, I couldn’t clearly hear his thoughts. They were fuzzy, like covered in static.” Joel explained.

Ray let out a triumphant squeak, as if he were proud of being unable to be heard.

“Now, who’s the other one?” Joel asked.

\--

Throughout the game, Michael hadn’t been pleased with the feelings Joel had been making Gavin go through. Mind games weren’t fair, and were practically torture, and feeling Gavin’s emotions twist and turn under the older boy’s gaze set Michael off.

It was a dark feeling that had settled in the middle of Michael’s chest. It was heavy, and didn’t move for the longest time. It was a solid block of some unknown emotion that had formed within him. As the game had continued, the feeling grew.

He didn’t like Joel.

He wanted Joel to go away.

And again, he couldn’t do anything, because of the rules. Again, he was useless to help Gavin. Watching Ray as he put pegs in Gavin’s grid made him feel worse.

He wished he could be the one to put the pegs in the board. He wished he could be the one perched on Gavin’s shoulder.

It wasn’t fair that he had to hide all the time.

And he grew unsettled with the strange feeling that had solidified in his self.

He had only felt this way one other time, when Gavin had fallen, and the students had chosen to ignore him. But this was far worse. This little ball of something, this annoying little ball of something _wouldn’t_ move.  His head felt like it was fizzling, caught between the unidentified jealousy for Ray, and the slowly burning anger toward Joel for messing with their dynamic.

And then Joel revealed he was a mind reader. Michael didn’t know why, but as soon as Joel admitted it, the block inside of him burst. Quiet fury poured through Michael’s body, he shivered around in Gavin’s shadow as he tried to contain it. If he moved now, he’d probably lunge at Joel.

How dare he play this game with his friend. How dare he.

He was no better than the children in Gavin’s class.

But Gavin seemed to like him, especially after Joel telepathically lifted the game piece.

Honestly, Michael was surprised at how quick Gavin was able to forgive and forget what Joel had just done to him. He sat there at the base of Gavin’s feet, and held back the hissing noises that were threatening to escape, as Gavin introduced Ray.

“Now, who’s the other one?” Joel asked, referring to the other voice he had been hearing in his head the entire time.

Gavin looked down at Michael, who had spread out from Gavin’s feet. “Well, that was probably Michael. He’s my best friend, and he’s always with me. Why don’t you say ‘Hi’ Michael?”

Michael hesitated as he held back a defiant growl. Since he didn’t move right away, Gavin gave him a look and a shake of his hand to urge Michael from his spot on the floor. Michael let out a loud sigh; it was the first time he was audibly heard in that room, and Joel’s eyes went wide.

A small amount of darkness pooled together in a space right next to Gavin. It slowly grew larger and larger until it was about as wide as Gavin’s stance. Big white eyes popped to life in the middle of the darkness and blinked a few times. Then it stretched, reaching upward, ever so slowly, almost like a black bubble coming out of the ground. Once it reached Gavin’s shoulders, it shaped itself.  A sharp cone face, housed the almond shaped eyes,  a short thin pipe-like neck lead to bony looking shoulders, that reached down to even thinner arms. The arms grew larger at the elbow, resulting in strangely large forearms. Each of the figure’s four fingers curled only a few inches from the ground.

One of those large forearms slowly waved at Joel. “Hello, I’m Michael.” He said. 


	22. Chapter 22

Joel squinted at Michael, as if he wasn’t sure what to make of him. The Shadow creature, in a humanoid form, was not what Joel had in mind when he had heard the silky voice ring in his head. Then again, he really hadn’t anything in his mind but a voice.

“And for some reason, he can do that and you thought my telepathy was cool? Dude, Michael is really awesome looking!” Joel smirked.

Michael blinked in surprise. Was that a compliment? Was it sincere, or could Joel feel the burn inside of Michael and he was just trying to cool the fire? Attempting to rid himself of these thoughts, Michael shook his head violently.

“Well, of course I did! It’s cool!” Gavin said as he flailed his arms.

Joel motioned to Michael, “Are you kidding me? You’ve got a best friend that’s practically melded into your being, and very far from human, and you are saying that something as lame as my telepathy and mind reading is cool?”

“I’m nothing special…” Michael murmured. If he had blood, like the most average human, he might have blushed.

“That’s not true at all.” Joel argued. “As a matter of fact, all of us in this room are special in a way, and I’m glad.”

Gavin tilted his head, “Why is that?”

“Why? Because you are different. You aren’t the same as everyone else. You, yourself, Gavin, are different, not just because you have these friends, either. Granted, I’m not sure how exactly you are different, but I know you are.” Joel answered. “And because you are different, I can trust you. I can trust all three of you.”

Michael, who was still dealing with his coiled confusion about whether or not he was still angry with Joel, sunk to the floor, only his head still visible. The compliment had really thrown him off, but wasn’t sure if it was enough to forgive him for messing with Gavin.

Gavin asked another question, “Why say that? Can’t you normally trust people?”

Joel paled at Gavin’s words. It was instant, the color drained from his face and he almost looked sickly. “Gavin. Gavin I don’t think you realize…. When you have a power like mine, the power to hear other’s thoughts, you learn something important. You learn that humans are monsters. No matter the age, they are violent people, ready to stab you in the back for their own gain. I’m guilty of it myself.”

Joel took a moment. He was shaking as he remembered the things he’d once heard. His arms had wrapped themselves around him, hugging him securely.  Gavin reached out, a hand hovering in the air, not sure what to do.

Joel swallowed before he continued, “I’ve heard things, you know? I’ve heard the horrible thoughts people have. Sometimes, if they are strong enough, I see them too. I’ve sat in class with the students who don’t want to go home because their parents are abusive. I’ve listened to the kid that thinks burning ants is hilarious. I heard the woman whose husband beats her every day, how she tries to rationalize it, how she blames herself for the bruises she gets.”

Joel ran his hands through his hair before placing his hands on his face. Like he was trying to cover up the fear to prevent it from escaping. The fear bubbled up inside Joel anyway, and traveled through his mouth in a choked sob. He was scared.

“I can’t trust people, because I know who they really are. The only way I can deal with it, is by making a game out it. If I’m the one playing with their mind, I know that I’m in control of them, for at least a moment. I don’t have to fear them. I also test them, to see what they are capable of. To see if they actually would act upon their thoughts. I need to know if I’m safe.  I’ve… never… felt safe. That’s why I didn’t have friends. I couldn’t trust them, so I just pushed them away.”

Gavin could feel Joel’s fear seeping into his skin. It prickled like a pile of pine needles, fighting their way into his body. It was just like with Ray: someone broken and held together with mere scotch tape was falling apart in front of him once again. The older boy was holding back sobs and Gavin knew it, but he wasn’t sure if letting Joel cry it out would be the best solution. So he stood there, feet heavy like cement bricks, unsure of how to deal with the older boy.

Michael felt awful now. He understood why Joel did what he had, and he felt terrible for getting mad at Joel.  It didn’t help that he could feel Gavin’s second-hand fear as well.

A ‘woosh’ sound rang in Gavin’s ears as a black blob jumped in front of his vision. Ray had jumped off Gavin’s shoulder and shifted mid-air, to run over and hug Joel. The way his stringy arms pushed Joel’s hands off his face and strung around Joel’s neck in the next second was astonishing to Gavin. Ray clung to Joel, not saying anything at all, just shoving his head into the crook of Joel’s neck.  Joel didn’t even look surprised, and instead returned the hug. They clung to each other for dear life, and Gavin knew. Gavin knew that Ray was the only one that could even come close to understanding the cruelty of humans.

After hugging for a few moments, Gavin decided to join in, walking over to the other side of Joel and sitting on the bed next to him. He didn’t hug Joel, but he did give a comforting hand to rub his back.

Joel was the first to actually speak again, “You see, this is exactly why I know I can trust you guys.”

Gavin smiled to Joel, “And I’m sure this is why we can be your first official friends too, right?”

After they hugged it all out, Ray shifted back into a mouse. Michael, Gavin, and Joel spent the next half hour talking about various things. Topics covered included how Michael and Gavin met, the places Joel lived, and which place he liked best. Turns out Joel like Nevada best. Living in the quiet desert with neighbors far from his telepathic range was a short-lived, but nice change for him.

Joel wasn’t that bad of a person, Gavin thought. Sure he talked a little funny at times, but his mind was cluttered, like a radio receiving multiple stations at once, and Gavin understood that. Words would tumble out of Joel’s mouth, derailing him mid-sentence--sometimes it was even funny. After they exchanged a few laughs, Joel heard his mother decide it was time to go. They picked up the battleship game, Michael slipped into Gavin’s shadow, Ray was placed back in his cage, and they headed out to the living room.

Joel’s mother smiled at them both as they walked in, “Oh, what nice timing, I was just about to go get you Joel. Did you boy’s play nice?”

Gavin smiled brightly, “Yeah, Joel’s pretty awesome. We had fun playing battleship, even though he won every single game.”

Joel shrugged, “You just can’t beat me at my own game, really. But yeah, Mom, Gavin and I are decidedly friends now.”

Gavin’s mother beamed a smile of radiant happiness at them. “That’s wonderful! I’m so glad Gavin and you are friends! If you want to come over and play whenever, you may.”

“Aw sweet!” Gavin exclaimed, “Even when you aren’t here and Geoff’s watching me?”

Allegra nodded her head. “Yep, it’s good with me as long as Joel’s mom is okay with it.”

Joel’s mom hopped up from her chair, “Yeah, I’m fine with it. It’s better than him staying inside and playing video games all day like he usually does.”

Joel and Gavin exchanged a high five. 

“So I’ll see you tomorrow then?” Joel asked.

“Definitely.” Gavin answered.


	23. Chapter 23

Joel did in fact pop over the next day. Since it was Sunday, Ray couldn’t join Michael, Gavin, and Joel outside because Gavin’s mother was off. Ray didn’t mind though; he didn’t get his ‘beauty sleep” the day before anyways.

Much to Gavin’s thinly-veiled dismay, Joel wasn’t the type to actually actively play. Instead of playing some fun game outside, the three of them sat next to the Birch tree and talked about random things. A lot of the time spent was focused on Michael. The little shadow was the first real fey creature Joel had encountered, and he had plenty of questions. Most of them Michael couldn’t answer because of the laws that bound him and that disappointed Joel. Joel was also really interested in Ray. He never fully understood why he couldn’t hear Ray’s thoughts. There had to have been something more than the Shifter being half-animal that prevented Joel from hearing Ray.

Michael thought for a moment, “Maybe it’s because he’s technically a faerie like me, but because I’m attached to Gavin, and not dormant, you can hear me? So it’s not that you can’t hear Ray, it’s that you can’t hear faeries. Ray is part human as well, so you can kinda hear him, but not really.”

“That’s possible, but I think Gav—“ Joel cut himself off mid-sentence.

Gavin looked at the older boy questioningly, “But you think what?”

Joel brushed his verbal slip-up with a wave of his hand, “Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t a complete thought.”

No real answers were reached before Joel had to return home. There was unpacking that still needed to be done, and his mother needed help. Gavin waved him off with a ‘goodbye.’

\--

The following Monday morning, Gavin woke up later than normal. His body felt heavy, sluggish, and he had problems rolling out of bed. Imaginary weights that sat on his chest prohibited him from his normal early morning cheerful energy. After what seemed like an hour, he finally managed to get up and get a clean shirt over his head. Then he sat back on his bed and stared at the wall, his brain still a little fuzzy. His vision was still a little blurry, and everything was out of focus.

Michael slipped out form his usual place under the bed. “You okay, Gavin?” He asked worriedly.

The boy rolled back into a stretch and yawned, “’m fine. Just really… tired.”

Gavin turned to Ray’s cage expecting the little mouse to be looking back at him, but he wasn’t there. He blinked at the empty cage in alarm. How long had Gavin been awake now? How did he not notice Ray was gone? He pushed himself to his feet, mustering all the energy he could to react faster.

“Where’s Ray?!” Gavin asked, trying not to panic. His mind raced ahead of him creating unpleasant scenarios about what might have happened to his friend.

Michael felt the panic emanating off Gavin, “With Geoff in the living room. Your mom left already.”

“Oh.” Gavin’s thudding heart quickly slowed back to a normal pace. He was a little more awake now than he was before, that’s for sure. His feet were still heavy as he dragged himself to the kitchen. From the kitchen he could see Ray and Geoff watching some cartoon on the television. Ray was mesmerized by the flashing colors of the screen.

“Good morning.” Gavin mumbled to them as he grabbed a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

Geoff glanced over his shoulder, “Good morning Sleeping Beauty, did you go to bed late last night or something?”

Gavin shook his head, “No. I went to bed at my usual time, fell asleep maybe even earlier than normal.”

Geoff’s face fell a little bit, “You okay Buddy? You sure you aren’t sick or anything?”

“Not sick, just tired.” Gavin answered with a mouthful of cereal.

 Gavin soon finished his cereal and sat beside Ray on the couch. Normally they both would have jumped straight into some game of sorts, but today looked like it was going to be a quiet kind of day. Ray occasionally pointed at the screen and talked animatedly about what just happened. Whatever cool attitude Ray once had seemed to have disappeared over the period of time he’s spent with Gavin and Michael. It’s like he dropped the armor he had put up and started acting like a real boy.

Gavin smiled and discussed the show with Ray. He talked about his favorite characters and why he liked them. It was a simple conversation but still meaningful between the two of them.

Geoff certainly enjoyed the peace and quiet; he was able to get far more work done on his laptop with them being quiet. It was relaxing for everyone in the house.

Early in the afternoon, a time when Ray and Gavin normally went outside, the pair was still inside enjoying a movie Geoff had put on. When the doorbell rang suddenly, both boys let out a surprised yelp. Geoff nearly fell over laughing at them. Still smiling, he wandered to the door and opened it.

Joel was standing on the front doorstep. That ‘dead on the inside’ expression was plastered on his face. That expression meant that Joel was trying to block out the noises of busy thoughts that were around him.

Geoff, who had never seen the boy before, raised an eyebrow. “Can I help you?” He asked.

Joel’s expression rapidly changed, and he was now squinting at the babysitter angrily, “You already know who I am and why I’m here, so I don’t know why you are asking.”

Gavin heard Joel’s voice and hobbled over to the doorway.

“Excuse me?” Geoff asked, annoyance present in his voice.

Joel looked at Geoff square in the eyes, “You heard me. I know Gavin’s mom told you about me, and I know you are far smarter than you let on, so I don’t know why you are playing polite when you know better.”

Joel’s words had a sharp bite to them. One that Gavin hadn’t heard before, and wasn’t sure what to make of. Geoff blinked, unsure of how to respond.

“Joel, are you okay?” Gavin asked quietly, hiding slightly behind Geoff’s leg.

“Perfectly fine.” Joel snarled, never taking his eyes off Geoff. “Never better.”

“Okaaay.” Geoff sighed, “So you must be Joel Heyman, the new neighbor. I’m sure you probably somehow know this too, but I’m Gavin’s babysitter, Geoff Ramsey.”

There was a defensive anger pooled in Joel’s eyes as he looked at the older man. He tucked his chin back slightly and whispered, “I don’t think I like you.”

“You know, from your attitude alone, I’m not entirely sure I want you in this house.” Geoff said, returning the glare. “I don’t want Gavin thinking you are cool or something and acting like you.”

“Joel, I don’t know if you are testing Geoff, but I really think you shouldn’t.” Gavin said nervously.

Tension was thick in the air. It seemed as if there was sparks shooting between the mind reader and the babysitter.

“I’m not sure if I can trust him. He knows things, and I’m not sure how he does.” Joel said pointedly. “He’s just a regular human, but he knows so much more than he should. I don’t like it.”

Geoff was waiting for the phone to buzz in his pocket, hoping for Griffon to say something that would help him out of this situation he was in. His phone remained silent.

With a sigh, he broke the glare with Joel and looked at Gavin. “All right. Tell me. Regardless of our rule. What’s different about him?” He asked pointing at Joel.

Gavin’s eyes bounced between the two. He didn’t want to break the rule about keeping information to themselves, but Geoff was asking so it had to be okay.

“He’s uhm…. Joel is telepathic. He can read minds and stuff.” Gavin eventually answered.

“But Geoff knew that already.” Joel said venomously. “Didn’t you?”

Geoff remained silent. The idea of Geoff knowing things wasn’t a surprise to Gavin. After all, Geoff had said that you need to know things to keep those close to you safe. A situation was unraveling faster than Gavin could control, and he felt lost.  He once again felt useless, unsure of how to deal with the problem that was presented before him.

_“C’mon brain, think!”_ Gavin hissed at himself internally. His brain fizzled for a few second but then the idea—the answer came to him.

“Joel.” Gavin started, stepping away from behind Geoff’s leg,  “You can trust Geoff. I mean, I don’t think you being unable to trust Geoff is exactly why you are acting this way, but you can trust Geoff. You know he knows about Ray. I don’t think there’s anyone else that would be able to find a Shifter like Ray and just treat them like everyone else. I don’t think I know anyone else that would give us advice for staying safe like he does. Geoff really cares about us. He’s going to care about you too!”

Both of the older boys remained silent. Joel soaked up the meaning in Gavin’s words. Once again, he was speaking beyond his age.

“And, I get why you are acting like this too.” Gavin continued, “You have always known everything about everyone else. It must seem scary for someone to all of a sudden know more things about you than you know about them. I mean, I know it’s scary because you knew things about me! But it’s okay that Geoff knows things. It’s part of his job to know things. He takes care of us, and making sure we aren’t around dangerous people is part of it.”

Joel’s eyes dropped from their hold on Geoff; Gavin’s words hit him deep. The younger boy had nailed Joel’s issue dead-on and now he felt a little weird. Like he had been cracked open in front of a stranger, his insides visible to anyone looking. Although, he didn’t mind this exposure, like he had wanted to be seen all along. He also felt like his anger was unnecessary, and he felt bad for snapping at Geoff.

Joel visibly relaxed, and rubbed the back of his head, “I’m… I’m really sorry Geoff. My brain was a little frazzled from the neighbors this morning, and then when I walked over, I felt that you already knew everything and I didn’t know how to react….  I’m sorry. Can we start over or something?”

Geoff looked up and placed a hand on his chin. “I dunno….” A teasing tone in his voice, “You were a rude little butt just now, and I’m not sure if I can forgive you.”

Joel’s face paled, not realizing the joke, which was odd, considering his powers. A moment of distress passed through Joel’s head.

Gavin pushed on Geoff’s leg. “Don’t be stupid, Geoff!” Gavin growled.

Geoff let out one of his manly giggles and extended his hand to Joel. “As I said already, I’m Geoff Ramsey. Don’t worry, while I can never be able to actually relate to the stress you must endure from constantly being bombarded by the thoughts of others, I can certainly try and be understanding.”

Joel stared at Geoff’s hand. He knew that Geoff’s words were very sincere, and the older man was giving Joel an undeserved second chance. Bony fingers lifted slowly and gripped themselves around the larger hand.

“Thank you.” Joel said as he shook Geoff’s hand.

Just like that, all the tension in the air disappeared, and everyone felt like they could breathe easier. There was now another person in Joel’s life that he could actually put trust in. Sure, he still wasn’t sure why Geoff knew what he did--probably had to do with that Griffon person that the older man briefly thought about-- but Joel accepted the fact that he didn’t have to know.

Geoff let Joel inside. Ray hadn’t moved from the couch, still watching the movie. The way the Shifter sat on the couch seemed odd to Joel, because he looked like a normal boy. You wouldn’t know that he was part mouse from looking at him.

“Hey, Ray.” Joel greeted, plopping himself next to the other boy.

Ray made a noise acknowledging the other boy’s presence. Geoff took the remaining vacant seat on the couch and Gavin plopped in front of Joel’s legs on the floor.

The rest of the day was spent peacefully, with the occasional commentary from Joel or Geoff about the movie they were watching. By the time the movie was over, it was time for Ray to get back to his cage. Ray hopped off the couch and looked at Gavin. The boy was leaning back on Joel’s legs, fast asleep.

“How long has he been sleeping?” Ray asked, pointing at Gavin.

Geoff shifted, leaning forward to look at Gavin, “He’s asleep? Well look at that.  No wonder he’s been so quiet.”

“Yeah, I stopped hearing his thoughts about half an hour ago.” Joel added.

Geoff reached over and fluffed the sleeping boy’s hair. Gavin didn’t even stir under his touch.

“I wonder if something is wrong with him?” Geoff contemplated out loud.

“He’s been through a lot lately; he’s only human. I bet he’s tired.” Ray suggested.

The three of them looked at Gavin just a few moments longer.

Then the front door opened and Gavin’s mother walked in and everyone froze.

“I’m home!”  Allegra greeted.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not beta'd yet, and I'm only posting it here and now for those that want to read it right away.  
> Also, I'M REALLY SORRY IT'S BEEN OVER A MONTH SINCE THE LAST UPDATE.  
> Updates will still be horribly infrequent though.  
> But ENJOY!

For whatever reason, they hadn’t heard the car drive up. They hadn’t heard the garage door open either. The click of the door opening had echoed through the house like a gunshot, and everyone’s spines stiffened.

Ray hadn’t gone back to his cage yet. He stood in the living room, eyes locked with Gavin’s mother. The paralysis of fear seeped into Ray’s muscles and he couldn’t move. No one seemed to be able to move in that moment.

They had messed up.

Allegra had a kind, but confused look written upon her face. “Hello there.” She said to Ray specifically. “I’m sorry, but have we met before?”

Ray faltered in his reply “I-I…”

A hand clamped around Ray’s shoulder suddenly, causing him to jump a little. Joel stepped in front of Ray slightly, and slightly squeezed the Shifter’s shoulder.

“Don’t you remember my little brother Ray, Mrs. Free?” Joel asked. His voice carried a strange melodic undertone that seemed to have captured the woman’s attention. “He was here yesterday.”

Gavin’s mom looked even more confused, “I don’t- I don’t remember there being another boy here yesterday…. And I remember—I remember Marlene saying you were an only child.” Her body trembled slightly under Joel’s gaze.

A cold chill filled the air in the small livingroom. A heavy snake-like feeling crawled along the skin of those that were in the room at the time. Ray even shivered and felt goosebumps pop up on his arms.

“Mrs. Free, I assure you, Ray was with me yesterday. He’s my _precious_ little brother.” Joel said, his voice heavy on Allegra’s ears. It was as if it were echoing in her head, repeating over and over again.

_Precious little brother. Precious little brother._

Allegra took a step back and leaned against the door. Her eyes were locked with Joel’s and her pupils were noticeably dilated.

“Precious little brother…” Allegra repeated back to Joel.

Joel nodded and smiled at her, “Yes. My precious little brother. You met him yesterday.”

“Met him… yesterday. Yes. I met Ray yesterday.” Allegra repeated again. Her voice was robotic, devoid of any emotion.

“There is no need to mention him to my mother either.” Joel ordered, “There is no reason to, Right?”

Allegra shook her head slowly. “No. There is no reason to mention Ray.”

“Good. Thank you for understanding, Mrs. Free.” Joel complimented.

He then broke eye contact with Gavin’s mother. In that moment, the weight in the room lifted, and the snake that had curled around them dropped. Suddenly, the hand on Ray’s shoulder grew heavy as Joel supported himself on the other boy. Allegra wobbled backwards, and had to catch herself on the door. Both were breathing heavily.

“Oh dear!” Allegra said, placing a hand on her chest, “Sorry about that. I suddenly felt dizzy.”

Geoff shot Joel a look before standing from his seat on the couch. “Are you alright?” He asked Gavin’s mother.

“I’m fine don’t worry about me!” She said before turning her attention to the boys. “And how are you and Joel doing today, Ray?” Allegra asked, seeming to have forgotten that she didn’t know him a few seconds ago. Whatever Joel had done to her worked, and she was acting as if she had known him the entire time.

Ray, who was still reeling from being caught in the first place, stuttered before he spoke, “F-fine. W-we had a quiet day.”

Allegra looked around Ray to find her son leaning against the couch still somehow fast asleep. She frowned a little before walking over to him.

She bent down and brushed her hand along her son’s cheek. “Is he okay?” She asked worriedly.

“We all asked him that and he said he was fine, just tired.” Geoff answered.

“I see…” Allegra said before asking Geoff if he’d help put Gavin in his bed. Geoff scooped up the boy without earning so much as a stir from him. Gavin was dead weight in Geoff's arms, his limbs hanging limply off him.

While Gavin was getting situated in his bedroom, Ray and Joel were left in the living room alone.

“What did you do to Gavin’s mom?” Ray asked, a little scared of Joel. He had stepped away from the other boy, trying to create a safe distance between them.

Joel shrugged like it was no big deal, “I just ‘convinced’ her that she met you before and that you are my brother. It’s not easy to do, ya know? You should be grateful.”

Ray shivered, “It’s scary how much power you have.”

“Says the boy who can turn into a mouse.” Joel said as he closed the gap and put a reassuring arm on Rays shoulder, “It’s not something I can do a lot, so don’t worry, okay?”

Ray smiled but then stiffed when he realized something. “Joel! His mom is in the room and I’m not in the cage!” He whisper-yelled.

Joel shook his head at the other, offering him a comforting smile, “Don’t worry, Michael took care of that. He bunched up some of your bedding to look like you were burrowed there. Besides, Mrs. Free is so focused on Gavin right now, I don’t think she’d notice.”

Ray visibly relaxed, “That’s good. Michael and Gavin are a really smart team, aren’t they?”

“Yeah.” Joel agreed, “Weirdly so.”

Their conversation was interrupted by Geoff and Allegra’s return to the living room. Geoff said his goodbye and left for the day. Joel stepped forward and said that he and Ray should be returning home as well. Allegra smiled and wished them a good day. Ray was about to protest in confusion, but Joel shoved the Shifter out the door.

“Looks like you’re spending the night!” Joel laughed once he closed the door behind him.

“But I—Joel, the cage, and Gavin and—Your parents” Ray sputtered.

Joel smiled and tugged on Ray’s sleeve, “Don’t worry, my parents are weird and don’t care that much. They’d be fine with you coming over and spending the night. I’ll tell them you are a neighbor boy. They’ll be like, ‘Oh that’s great, Honey! What a nice looking boy!’ You know, parent things.”

Ray didn’t have the chance to tell him that he didn’t know of these ‘parent things.’

The two were now headed toward Joel’s house. Even with Joel’s reassurance, Ray felt no less nervous. His fingers clawed at each other, digging into the skin between the appendages. When the pair reached Joel’s house, they were greeted by Joel’s mother.

“Hello Honey, who is this?” She asked warmly, throwing the question toward Ray.

Joel patted Ray’s shoulder and introduced him. Ray sputtered a greeting in response. When Ray wasn’t in control of things, he fell apart, and his usual cool demeanor demolished under the gaze of others. Even though Joel’s mom didn’t have any sort of hostility toward the Shifter, he still felt exposed and unsafe. He really wished Joel could hear his thoughts so he could understand how uncomfortable he was. He wanted to get out of the house and run back to his cage.

Even though the rest of the evening went without a hitch, and Joel’s parents taking a shine to Ray, he couldn’t trust any of them yet.

The two of them nestled in Joel’s room, ready for the night, but only after an argument about where they were going to sleep. Joel insisted on letting the younger sleep on a real bed for once, and while that was very appealing to Ray, he felt the floor would be more up his alley. With a groan, Joel set out the sheets on the floor, and tossed a pillow in Ray's direction.

It felt weird trying to sleep in his human form. Ray shuffled around a few times trying to get comfortable. His limbs felt long and in the way. He even pulled his legs up and curled into a ball. It still didn’t work.

Joel turned to look at Ray on the floor when the Shifter groaned. “What’s wrong?” Joel asked right before letting out a small chuckle, “That’s the first time I’ve ever asked that question without already knowing the answer.”

Ray let out a little whine before moving again. “Not comfy. “ He grumbled.

Joel chuckled again, “You should have taken the bed.”

Ray snarked, “It’s not that. It’s that I don’t normally sleep in a human form. Haven’t done it in years.”

“Then shift.” Joel suggested. “We’ll be awake before my parents, I’m sure.”

Hesitation bubbled in Ray’s throat. The idea of getting caught flashed through his head. The horrifying nightmare that was his life the last time he had been caught resurfaced. His body quietly trembled as he fought the fear once again. He couldn't trust Joel. Not yet. Safety came first, and he needed to be as safe as possible. Shifting was not a possibility, even if it meant that he'd go without sleep.

“It’s okay. I’ll be fine.” Ray lied, pulling up the blanket provided to him over his shoulder. It was warm.

Joel shrugged, “If you say so.”

\--

Gavin woke up in the middle of the night with a start. Another nightmare had clawed at his brain during his slumber. Sweat had formed on his forehead and he felt gross when he wiped it off.

Michael felt the energy shift before he heard Gavin and was already waiting on the floor beside Gavin’s bed. “Are you okay, Gavin?”

Gavin took a few deep breaths before answering, “Yeah, I’m good, Just another nightmare.” He rubbed an eye with the butt of his palm before looking around in the darkness of his room. Through is foggy mind of waking up, he noticed that he didn’t hear the faint rustling in Ray’s cage.

“Ray?” He threw the Shifter’s name in the air worriedly.

“Ray is over at Joel’s tonight.” Michael explained, “Your mom thinks he is Joel’s little brother.”

Gavin was too tired to properly care and only gave Michael an acknowledging noise in response. Ray was in good hands.

He hoped.

There was a pause in the air as Gavin’s brain slowly restarted. It was going as fast as an old ’98 PC, creaking and squeaking as it booted up.

Michael broke the silence with a nervous voice, “Hey, Gavin?”

Gavin leaned over the side of the bed to look at his friend. The shadow was swaying back and forth rhythmically. His white eyes were clearly visible in the darkness of the room.

“Can… Can we tell Geoff about me?” Michael barely managed to ask. “I know the promise and stuff, but we both know that he wouldn’t care, and I really want to play with you guys normally. I want to talk to you guys too. I’m getting tired of hiding when I don’t think I have to.”

Gavin rubbed his eye again as he processed Michael’s question. It was a surprising question that his brain wasn’t awake enough to think about properly. The Shadow had a point, his poor brain managed to reason, Geoff wouldn’t care, but still.

“What about your laws? Aren’t you supposed to keep yourself a secret to humans?” Gavin tiredly asked.

Michael shook his head and closed his eyes for a second, “I don’t care anymore. I already broke the law, three times now, and nothing has happened. What’s one more person? Especially someone I can trust?”

Gavin stretched his arms out before tucking himself under his covers. “If you’re okay with it, then I’m okay with it. We’ll tell Geoff tomorrow.” Gavin said through a yawn.

“Thanks Gavin. I appreciate it.” Michael said quietly, despite the overwhelming happiness that was coursing through his body. He couldn’t believe he wasn’t going to have to hide anymore, at least, not as much as he used to have to.

Gavin smiled, “No problem. You’re my friend, and I want you to be happy… Good night Michael.”

Michael responded with his own ‘good night’ and ducked under the bed. Gavin was out of consciousness seconds later.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so goddamn sorry this hasn't updated in three months. MERRY CHRISTMAS, OKAY?

The night dragged on and on. Things in the house creaked as temperatures shifted and the boards inside expanded and contracted. Every snap that echoed through the small house counted the moments until sunrise.

They say that time goes fast when you are having fun, and time nearly slows to a halt when you have to wait. And for a being like Michael, that couldn’t sleep, it felt like the next day was never going to arrive. If he had feet, he’d be shifting from one to the other, if he had arms, he’d be tapping them impatiently.  Instead, with the blobbish body that he did have, he sashayed from side to side underneath Gavin’s bed.  He swallowed squeaks that threatened to escape him as his mind played through visions of what tomorrow would bring: The good (Geoff accepting him easily), the bad (Geoff getting mad at Gavin for keeping a secret from him), and of course, the ugly (Geoff telling Gavin to get rid of him). While that last one was unlikely, it was still something Michael considered.

His mind turned to his favorite nighttime pastime of pushing the various coins under Gavin’s bed into patterns and stacks. One of these days Michael would have to ask Gavin for a coloring book or something.

To his delight, the sun finally graced the horizon with a golden kiss. Its loving rays filtered through the shades and scattered light around the room. As it rested upon Gavin’s sleeping form, it warmed him and stirred the young boy awake. With a happy, but still sleepy yawn, the brunette sat up.

Within seconds, Michael stretched himself to the foot of Gavin’s bed and barely peeked from the edge. His odd claw-like fingers clung to the edge of the comforter, and his chin rested comfortably.

“Morning Gavin!” Michael greeted happily. His white eyes closed into happy crescents as a quiet squeal emanated from his body.

Gavin returned the smile while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “G’morning.” He attempted to greet Ray as well, turning to the cage but found it empty. His eyes widened and his mouth opened but quickly clamped shut when his mind reminded him that the Shifter was over at Joel’s. He quietly muttered a “That’s right…” to himself. Michael chuckled a little.

“How you feeling?” Even though Michael was excited for his own things, he had been worried about Gavin’s exhaustion.

Gavin slipped out of bed, shed his clothes, and put on new ones, “Okay. Better than yesterday. I don’t feel so heavy like I did yesterday.”

Michael nodded, “That’s good. I was worried about you. Well, everyone was worried about you.”

Gavin looked back at Michael, “I was just tired, I didn’t mean to…” His bit his bottom lip, “Can you tell me about what happened yesterday?”

Michael went through yesterday’s events. After Gavin nodded off, Allegra had come home early and walked in. She saw Ray, and Joel used his power to make her believe that Ray was his little brother. She soaked up the information like a sponge and believed every word immediately. Geoff put Gavin in his bed, Michael hid in Ray’s bedding, and Ray left with Joel.

Gavin’s eyes widened in surprise. He couldn’t believe that he slept through all of that. He even slept through dinner. As soon as the thought came to mind about dinner, his stomach growled, begging for breakfast. Rubbing his belly, he commanded it to be quiet, making Michael laugh.

“You ready for today?” Gavin asked.

“I’ve been ready since last night.” Michael answered, as he slowly merged into Gavin’s shadow. “You?”

Gavin looked down at him and nodded. “Definitely.”

With that, Gavin padded into the kitchen quietly, greeting his mother who was also getting ready. She asked him how he was feeling and then readied him a bowl of cereal. Between spoonfuls, Michael felt the excitement rise within his friend, which only served to make Michael excited as well. Eager legs kicked under the chair, right above Michael’s head. Like a cat, Michael wanted to paw at Gavin’s feet, but the reminder of the laws nagged at him.

He wondered why he was so afraid of touching Gavin, especially when he’d easily broken the law about his secrecy. What was so different about the idea of touching Gavin that sent chills throughout his being? He couldn’t even form a hand that would be willing to reach out, like his body froze by the thought alone. With a frustrated but silent huff, Michael chose to focus his attention on the patterns on the floor.

\--

Over in the Heyman household, no one but Ray was awake. His fear never melted away in the middle of the night, and the only thing keeping him together right now was the thought of returning to Gavin’s home as soon as possible. He shivered on the floor, feeling goosebumps pop up on his skin. Pulling the blankets tighter around him, he held back a few whimpers. Tears pricked at his eyes for the fifth time since Joel fell asleep, he was so scared. Scared because he was basically trapped in that house, scared because he didn’t know anything about these people, scared because Joel was older and bigger than most of the kids he’d ever lived with before.

When the sound of rustling came from above him, he froze. His mind shot off three different directions at once. One direction was to pretend to be asleep, the second to pretend just waking up, and the third to sit up and let Joel know he had been awake the entire time. His lack of movement proved to be the wrong choice, because with a groan and a shuffle of sheets, a foot stepped right into Ray’s side. Ray yelped and so did Joel as he scrambled back onto the bed.

Joel’s heart punched through his chest as his brain tried to catch up with what happened. Ray sat up and glared furiously at Joel whose back was flattened into the wall.

“I forgot you came over, holy crap. I’m sorry, Ray.” Joel quickly apologized.

A fire of anger burned in the pit of Ray’s stomach. Lack of sleep, being on the ends of his nerves all night, and then just being forgotten about made him spill over. Ray bared his teeth at Joel and chomped, “You don’t know how bad I want to bite you right now.”

“You’re right, I don’t, and it actually bothers me that I don’t.” Joel said as he ran a hand through his messy dark hair. His fingers did nothing to fix the tangled nest atop his head, but it did calm his nerves.  “I’m really sorry though, Ray. I’ve… never really had people over before and the move… and… I’m sorry okay?”

Even though his little burst of fury warmed him up, he still clutched the blanket that was wrapped around his shoulders. “Whatever.”

After getting changed, Joel threw a shirt in Ray's direction, and they headed to the kitchen for breakfast. Joel made note of his parents still sleeping and said that they’d probably be sleeping well into the afternoon. Ray only grumbled in response, pulling the blanket along with him. It was the only thing that made him feel a sliver of safety in Joel’s house, much like how hiding under the covers makes the ghosts go away.  The blanket is a magic shield that will protect Ray from any harm that may happen.

“Can we get back to Gavin’s soon?” Ray mumbled quietly over his bowl of half-eaten cereal.

Joel sat up straight, looking past Ray and through the window behind him. His eyes fluttered closed, like he was falling into a trance. When he opened them again, his eyes flickered straight to Ray’s. “We should wait a bit, okay?”

“Why?” Ray whined.

“Just… because we should, something important is going to happen over there, okay?”

Ray dropped his spoon halfway to his mouth. It splashed into the bowl, splattering milk everywhere. “If something important is going to happen, shouldn’t we be there?”

“Are you okay, Ray?”

Ray blinked rapidly and loudly hissed, “What do you mean ‘am I okay’?  I’m _fine._ I just want to go _home_.”

“You don’t have to wait long!” Joel tried explaining, “We can watch a movie or something, and then we can go over, okay?”

“No! That’s not okay!” Ray was nearly ready to scream. His eyes burned red as he held back his frustration. He didn’t want to make any more noise than he was already making. He started shaking, clenching his fists so tight his knuckles turned white.

Joel flailed around, “Ray, just calm down, it’s not a big deal, it’s just something Gavin and Michael want to do, okay? I don’t think we should butt in.”

\--

As soon as Geoff walked in the door, Michael wanted to spring from his Gavin’s shadow. He wanted to reveal himself, and maybe throw some confetti in the air at the same time. He wanted to celebrate that he wasn’t going to have to hide himself anymore.

He couldn’t even help the little squeaks that emanated from his body. Even when Gavin shot him a glare, he couldn’t dial it back.

Geoff literally could not go any slower getting himself ready to take care of Gavin. His conversation with Allegra dragged on slower than the night did.  Once she bid them farewell and left, Michael let out a soft happy cry. But he still had to wait. He had to wait for Gavin and Geoff to talk for a little bit, have Geoff ask him how he was feeling, just like everyone probably was going to do today.

Eventually, Geoff situated himself on the couch, and Gavin on the floor in front of him. After their conversation died down, nervousness bubbled inside Gavin. The boy could feel Michael practically burning a hole in his skull as the shadow tried to get his attention. He swallowed multiple times, and Geoff looked straight at him.

“Something wrong, Buddy?” Geoff asked looking at him with concern in his eyes.

“Y-yeah. Well…. Geoff… I’ve been… keeping something from you.” Gavin looked at the floor, suddenly feeling guilty. He couldn’t look Geoff in the face, because it felt like he’d been lying to him this entire time. It felt like he was going to shatter the trust between them, he already probably damaged the trust by hiding Ray, so this might be even worse.

Geoff chuckled, “Don’t tell me you have another class pet that’s actually a person hiding in your closet.”

“No… not… exactly.” Gavin said to the floor. From his crisscrossed legs, he could see Michael peeking out at him. They urged him to go on.

Geoff’s tone immediately stopped being playful. He leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees and looked at Gavin. “Is it one of the things I told you not to talk about to other people?”

Gavin nodded, gripping his ankles tightly.

“Alright. Tell me.” Geoff urged.

Gavin looked up, meeting Geoff’s gaze. There was fierceness behind that mysterious blue that told Gavin that no matter what, it would be okay. It filled Gavin’s body with a sense of ease, and with a newfound determination he stood up.

“I have a best friend, and his name is Michael, and he’s always with me.”

To the right side of Gavin, a darkness pooled. The black puddle formed a hill, and began to stretch. Snake like tendrils of black reached up ever so slowly, taking on the form of legs, leading to a very thin chest region that was thinner than Gavin’s showing more of a ribcage than a human chest. As the form continued upward, on both sides two ribbons spiraled downward, thin at the top, wide at the bottom shaping into long fingers. Back up top, a bottle shaped neck lead to a cone shaped face with almond shaped eyes that glowed white. At the very top, even with Gavin’s own head, were black curls that constantly shifted and never stilled.

 “My best friend… is my shadow,”  Gavin said.

Geoff didn’t say anything for a while; he just looked Michael over a few times. He moved his hands a few times in some attempt to say something, but they ended up clapping back together in front of his mouth. He ended up leaning back against the couch and sighing heavily.

“Well, it’s finally nice to meet you, Michael.” Geoff said.

Michael nodded, “You too.”

Geoff turned his attention toward Gavin, who was still staring at Geoff. “You know, I wasn’t honestly expecting to meet Michael so soon, nor did I think he could make himself look this close to a human form.”

Both Michael and Gavin’s eyes blew wide. “W-What?” They sputtered. Both were heavily shocked.

Geoff threw his head back and laughed, “What? C’mon, you should know by now that I know things. I’ve known you’ve had Michael since the first day I saw you with him.”

“So… you knew… about me…” Michael said more to himself than anyone around him. And then he closed his eyes and squealed happily. All these people know about him, and nothing bad has happened so far.

“Is it okay if he plays with me now? I’m tired of him hiding all the time, and he’s tired of hiding, too.” Gavin asked, trying to get to point of revealing Michael’s existence.

And in a flash, serious Geoff was back. He reached out and put a hand on Gavin’s shoulder, “You can, BUT, you have to be a lot more careful with Michael than you are with Ray. At least Ray looks human, and if people see him, they won’t think twice about it. However, if they see Michael, It might not be the same. They might be scared, and human fear is something that can turn ugly fast. Okay? Just be careful.”

And right as Gavin was about to eagerly agree, the front door slammed open, with Ray screaming while clinging to the golden doorknob. Joel was clinging to Ray’s legs as Ray yelled.

“Let me go, Joel! Let me go!” Ray screamed while trying to kick the other boy off him.

\---


	26. Chapter 26

\--A few minutes earlier--

Ray seethed at Joel from across the table. “You aren’t my friend, you can’t keep me here.”

“Ray.” Joel took a deep breath, closing his eyes and gripping his spoon tightly. He was silent as his face scrunched together in concentration. “I told you to calm down already.”

His chin lifted parallel to the table and hung in the air. In an instant, the atmosphere that was charged with angry heat shifted to a cold fear. It skittered down Ray’s spine, but his glare never wavered. His eyes stuck like glue to the boy in front of him, watching Joel’s every move.

Joel dropped his face, eye’s open and glaring right back at Ray. His eyes were dark, pupils blown so wide there was no trace of brown iris. “Ray, I am going to need you to calm down.”

Ray looked at Joel with sheer terror, “You just tried using your powers on me!” Ray shouted as his instincts kicked into overdrive. His entire body screamed at him to get out of the house as soon as possible. He picked up the bowl of cereal and threw it at Joel. As soon as the bowl had left Ray’s fingers, he had turned out of the chair, leaving the blanket behind, and ran for the door.

Everything slowed down as the bowl passed over the table.

As the bowl headed for Joel’s face, something in the back of his head snapped. For years and years, he’d been forced to listen to people, to see their awful visions in their heads. He’d been forced to deal with it because people would be scared of him if he told them. Sure, it was nice to be able to tell Gavin and Ray, but now his power was useless. The frustration from not being able to hear or control Ray boiled over. The feeling of loss he felt from not having that control turned into rage.

It was like a mental dam broke lose, spilling all of his psychic powers into his body. The energy flowed through his veins with a single command.

Stop Ray.

Before the bowl of milk hit Joel, he swung his arm out. The bowl stopped just centimeters from his face, reversed its direction, and with cheetah speed it smashed against the wall right next to the door right as Ray grabbed ahold of the doorknob. Fragments of the bowl and milk splashed everywhere and Ray let out a yelp as he felt some of the pieces hit him.

Ray didn’t hesitate though, he threw open the door and sprinted out into the front yard. Quickly he shifted into his mouse form and bolted. He hoped that the grass could hide him and he could at least make it to the street before Joel did.

Joel ran to the open doorway, stopping right at the door frame. He reached out to Ray trying to call him back, but instead he released a pulse from his hand. The air wavered visibly in an arc-like shape, spreading from his hand outward. The pulse swept across the lawn and blew against Ray’s back. It forced the smaller boy into the air, and made him shift back into a human. Ray landed facedown and only spent a second gathering himself before picking himself up and running again.

Joel ran out into the lawn as well, and just as Ray was about to reach the sidewalk, Joel telepathically pushed the ground away and made a hole right before Ray stepped into it. The Shifter tripped, he screamed as he felt his ankle give, and his palms burned as they scraped against the sidewalk.

Ray looked back to see Joel right on his tail, just a few strides distance between them. He scrambled back up and Ran as fast as he could with pain shooting through his ankle. With his feet on concrete as he started running through the road, Joel couldn’t move the ground beneath him as easily as earth. He was a little safer for a few seconds.

Joel raised his hand again as he also stepped onto the street, this time to see if he could grab a hold of Ray and stop him that way. He quickly pictured a giant ghost-like hand that would stretch beyond his reach and wrap its fingers around Ray. The hand itself was far bigger than Ray and should have been easy to grasp the boy. As soon as the mental fingers touched Ray, the hand dissipated into a white dust. Okay, so he couldn’t touch Ray, but maybe he could grab the clothes Ray was wearing. He reached out again, the hand much smaller than before, and it grabbed the collar of Ray’s shirt.

Ray jerked backwards as he was grabbed. He lost his balance and fell on his back. Using his momentum, Ray kept rolling, he tucked his legs in and lifted his hands. As soon as his hands were flat against the ground, he pushed, springing his legs into the air. Joel wasn’t able to stop himself and he was kicked right in the middle of his stomach. This time Joel was knocked to the ground, the wind knocked right out of him.

If Ray’s ankle wasn’t messed up before, it was now. He could barely walk. He desperately limped his way to Gavin’s house, leaving Joel in the middle of the street.

Joel gained his breath quickly though and he was back up on his feet.  He noticed Ray was just inches away from the door to ‘freedom.’

“Ray!” Joel roared as he broke into a sprint.

Ray grunted as he pushed himself forward. Just a few more feet and he’d be okay. He’d be safe. Gavin would protect him. Michael would protect him. Geoff would protect him. He reached out for the doorknob and curled his fingers around the cold metal. He twisted it, feeling hope rush into his chest as the door clicked open.

Just as Joel tackled him right into it. The full force of Joel’s weight shoved him into the door, making it swing open.

“Let me go, Joel! Let me go!” Ray screamed while trying to kick the other boy off him.

Joel grit his teeth and clung tighter to Ray’s legs even after Ray kneed him in the face. Pain shot through his face but with the adrenaline pumped through his veins he felt nothing.  But then Ray’s legs disappeared and Joel fell to the carpet, slamming into it chin-first. Joel looked up to see that Ray turned into a mouse and was barely hanging onto the doorknob with his tiny mouse hands.

Before his body moved to the command of “Stop Ray,” but as he looked up to the weak little mouse, Joel’s mind gave another order.

“Make him pay for not listening.”

He reached forward and yanked Ray off the doorknob. He squeezed the small mouse between his fists as he brought Ray to his face. Ray was squeaking in pain as his body was being crushed.

“You should have listened to me Ray. You should have listened to me.” Joel muttered to the struggling mouse. A crazed look had washed over his face. It was as if he was in some sort of tunnel vision and all he could see was Ray. His whole world focused on Ray and watching him squirm.

“Joel, stop it!” Geoff commanded as he grabbed Joel’s wrist.

Instantly, the energy that had been pounding through Joel’s body receded. The dam rebuilt in his brain. The command to hurt Ray left so quickly that his body reacted. His hands opened so quickly that he dropped Ray. One arm dropped limply to his side while the other was still held in the air by Geoff.

“I-I,” Joel managed to choke out as he looked over to his right. He saw Ray scurry into Gavin’s hands, who in turn held him close. Michael was loudly hissing, taking a defensive stance in a half-form in front of them both. Joel’s eyes looked up to Geoff, who was still gripping him tightly. The babysitter’s face looked angry and protective, but his eyes shone with concern.

Geoff turned to Gavin and told him to take Ray to his room. Gavin hesitated, but then nodded before leaving. He turned back to Joel and let go of his wrist, which also dropped like a rock to Joel’s side.

“Stand up, Joel.” Geoff instructed, offering him a hand.

Joel’s hand shook as he tried to lift it. He wasn’t sure if it was from lack of energy, or from the fear that had replaced the darkness that overpowered him just moments ago. Geoff raised him off his knees, put a hand in the center of his back and led him to the couch. Joel didn’t need to be told to sit down. He folded himself up on the couch, hugging his knees tightly as Geoff sat down next to him. As soon as Geoff’s butt hit the cushions, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He placed a hand on Joel’s shoulder as he dug out the phone.

Griffon.

_Text:  “Be gentle with the kid, okay? He’s really freaked out right now. I don’t blame him. He’s got some power.”_

Geoff nodded at the phone in acknowledgment before putting it back in his pocket. He kept his hand on Joel’s shoulder though to make sure he knew that he was there for comfort. The young man trembled under his touch, his mind fighting the guilt that was trying to take over.

After a moment of silence, Geoff spoke, “You wanna tell me what happened?”


End file.
